Environmental Centre ARCTUROS ( el, Περιβαλλοντικό Κέντρο του ΑΡΚΤΟΥΡΟΥ) commonly known as Arcturos, is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

organization whose main activity is the preservation of the

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...

and its habitats, while also providing sanctuary to confiscated illegal pets such as

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and lynx. It also maintains a Greek shepherd dog shelter which aims to donate trained shepherd dogs to farmers.

Activities

Brown bears once ranged all across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, but human encroachment on their forest habitats have made them an endangered species. Through the efforts of Arcturos, the size of the Greek brown bear population appears to have doubled in recent years. The organization also undertakes the rescue of bears kept captive in inhumane conditions—such as the "dancing bears", which are taken as cubs to be trained following the killing of their mother, as well as orphan bears and those improperly kept in zoos. It comprises a veterinary centre located in the village of Aetos, where animals are nursed back to health and a mountain sanctuary in the nearby

Verno Verno ( el, Βέρνο) or Vitsi ( el, Βίτσι) is a forested mountain range in the southern part of the Florina and the northeastern part of the Kastoria regional units in Western Macedonia, northern Greece. The elevation of its highest pea ...

mountains close to the village of

Nymfaio Nymfaio ( el, Νυμφαίο, before 1926: Νέβεσκα - ''Neveska'', rup, Nevesca) and in Ancient Greece: Νυμφαῖον or Νύμφαιον (9th century bc), is a village and a former community in Florina regional unit, Western Macedonia ...

, an enclosed section of forest where the bears are transferred to be cared for and studied until they are able to be released back into the wild. The sanctuary also serves as an educational and study field for scientists and the public.

Name

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

Ἀρκτοῦρος (''Arktouros'') meant "Guardian of the Bear", ultimately from ἄρκτος (''arktos''), "bear" and οὖρος (''ouros''), "watcher, guardian".

References

External links

Environmental Centre ARCTUROS
Environmental organizations based in Greece Animal welfare organizations based in Greece {{greece-stub