the predator center in kuusamo

Kuusamo's Large carnivores center isn't a Zoo and hasn't sought to be called one. The center simply works as a care home and a refugee for animals that were found wounded either by accident or shooting.The fence goes 2 meters underground and the bear house walls have metal core which don't show outside. The housing units for the animals are being cleaned everyday. All the animals in the center are getting food recommended and inspected by the vets and the bears are getting foods that contain meat, salmon and grains. We often go to see these animals with whole family and it's great to see them from close by so that you can even feel the bear's breath. I recommend this place for everyone who are wanting to get to know these magnificent animals.

Where to start.. The woman guiding was alright and did her job well, I'll give her that. Otherwise the info was terrible (obvious when you know the real info, maybe not so obvious to people who don't), especially towards the wolfdogs, in which some ludicrous claims were made. It was clear they new about dogs, but knew nothing about wolves, and to teach about wolfdogs you need to know both. The animals had okayish sized enclosures, i've seen much better, but the wolfdogs were kept in a tiny concrete cage full of their own faeces. Not to mention all the enclosures, especially the bears', all stank of faeces. All animals, when fed meat, got it in the form of leftover pulp from a slaughterhouse, meaning the animals never had anything proper to chew on (very bad for their health), but this was countered by saying the animals get to chew on fruit and veg. Despite fruit and veg still not being great in terms of chewing, this would only apply to the bears and possibly the fox. Otherwise its almost meat smoothies for them to lick up. Sweets were fed to the bears and salty sausage to the lynx (not very healthy). Safety wasn't the best either, with fences not sunk into the ground, meaning the fox and bears could potentially dig their way out, and trees right next to the lynx's fence, meaning (despite electrified fences everywhere) they could potentially climb up and out. The bears' hibernation dens were simply made out of thin planks of wood, meaning a bear could easily smash its way out if wanted. All in all, its clear this is no zoo or anything else (rumour has it they're not allowed a zoo license. I wonder why? *sarcasm*), but simply some egotistical person's private collection of carnivores, hoping to rip off money from people by mouth-feeding sweets to bears and giving people the wrong image of what a wolf really looks like. I am never going back and discourage anyone else to feed their money into this filthy mess of welfare ignorance.

This place is great, you get to see the bears from really close by while the guide tells you about all the bears, one by one. They take real good care of all animals and there's a lotta space for them to play around. Sometimes they get to go out too! One of the bears who lives here is Finland's biggest brown bear!

I have visited The Predator Center in Kuusamo several times. And it has been always nice and exciting place to visit. Juuso and other bears are so lovely, funny and natural, specially I love Juuso. His weight in max is over 400 kg, so he is huge bear. And I always admire the host, Sulo Karjalainen, how he can handle the bears so well.In centre there is also other nice northern wild animals, foxes, lynx and reindeers.Extremely lovely place and easy to visit. http://www.kuusamon-suurpetokeskus.fi

Entrance to the Predator Center in Kuusamo costs 10 euro. Allmost all of the entrance fee goes probably to animals food, because the bears eat, eat and eat!The tour is fully guided and takes about an hour. The guide speaks Finnish and gives also a decent English explanation. With this tour you get the chance to see bears, lynx, reindeer and wolves at very close distance (there is a safety zone from 1,5 meter).

Center has presented to us a very nice and professional guide (woman). Animals, in particular the bears were incredibly cute.

Ett fantastiskt ställe där föräldralösa rovdjur har blivit omhändertagna väl av en man. Det finns björnar, rävar, lodjur. Alla dessa djur har ägaren tagit hand om när deras mammor har blivit skjutna eller på annat sätt försvunnit. Ägaren går inne hos björnarna utan något skydd. Djuren har även parat sig och bildat familj där. Man skickar en del djur till djurparker runt om i Finland. Djuren har gott om plats och kan leva fritt. Stället är öppet bara på våren, sommaren och hösten.

Un zoo trés ancien dans sa conception qui permet de voir les espèces de "carnivores " locales.Guide obligatoire, explication en finlandais