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Bears are the totemic animals of Bern (Switzerland), the symbolic representation of the city's and of the Bern state's community of people from at least the early 13th century.
Tradition claims that the city founders vowed to name the new settlement after the first animal they would come across.
"Then they caught a bear first, which is why the city was called Bern; and so the citizens had their coat and shield, which was a black bear in a white shield, going upright".
The city has been keeping live bears in the Bärengraben (Bear Pit) for at least 550 years. The Bear Pit is a local attraction, well known within and beyond the borders of Switzerland.
Since 2009 the Bärengraben was extended to, and superseded by a 6,000 square meters park, the Bärenpark (Bear Park), that provides bears with ample space to wander around, from the original pit to the river Aar waters.
Bears can climb, play or withdraw as they wish in the green hilly park, or bathe in the Bear Bath section of the river.
The currently resident bears Björk and Finn moved into the Bear Park at the beginning of October, 2009. They gave birth to twins Ursina and Berna in December 2009.
After increasing conflicts with her mother Björk, Berna has left the Bear Park on July 2013.
Visitors can follow the bears' motions in the new park, watch them bathing in the Bear Bath, and witness their feeding, all this from a safe and unobtrusive distance.