Arataki and Otay are in for quite a few treats this month.

The National Zoo and Aquarium’s resident sun bear couple are doing their bit for World Bear Day on Sunday, 23 March, by sitting down for a good old-fashioned teddy bear’s picnic.

“The bears get lots of enrichment items … So they got boxes, piñatas, teddies, baskets – lots of different things to encourage them to forage for their food,” zookeeper Jemma Walsh says.

“It is a natural thing they would be doing out in the wild, and it’s a form of enrichment that we use every day here at the zoo to really encourage the animals to use their wild instincts.”

The picnic is part of a “big bear celebration” for the entirety of March in an effort to raise funds for ‘Free the Bears’, an Australian charity dedicated to saving Asiatic bears, sun bears and moon bears from human predation in their natural homelands.

Founded by Perth grandmother Mary Hutton in 1995, the organisation recently conducted its biggest ever confiscation and rescue effort, saving 17 orphaned bear cubs in the Laos capital of Vientiane.

“We are big supporters of Free the Bears,” animal care manager Sophie Dentrinos says.

“Sun bears are classified as vulnerable … They are a really elusive species to accurately get numbers on in the wild, but estimates are anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 left, so they’re very vulnerable to poaching, both for their body parts, but also for the illegal pet trade.”

Animal care manager Sophie Dentrinos and zookeeper Jemma Walsh. Photo: James Coleman.

Otay, for instance, was born in Cambodia in 2004, but spent the first two years of her life in a cage, being milked for her bile.

Bear bile, stored in the animal’s gallbladder, is used by many traditional Asian medicine practitioners and is often extracted by inserting dirty catheters directly into the organ.

Free the Bears came about after Mary was horrified to see video footage from some of these farms on TV. The very next day, she drew up a petition and stood at the entrance to a local shopping mall to collect what eventually became thousands of signatures.

Two years later, the organisation began its first raids of the illegal farms, rescuing hundreds of bears like Otay.

Sun bears are among three species native to Asia that are illegally poached for their bile. Photo: National Zoo and Aquarium.

Otay’s breeding partner, Arataki, was born at the Wellington Zoo in New Zealand, and in 2009, a cub, Mary, was born, named after Otay’s saviour. Sun bear Mary now lives at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

“Collectively, they’re part of a managed program for sun bears in Australia and New Zealand, and that means we’re very much trying to preserve their genetic diversity and maintain the population here,” Sophie says.

A keeper from the National Zoo was even sent over to Perth to help “because they were not expecting that many cubs to suddenly come into their care, and those cubs obviously required around-the-clock care as well”.

The couple’s breeding days are behind them now, as they’re both well into “retirement age”.

“Otay and Arataki are … in their 20s. We would expect them to live for another 10 or so years, so … we wouldn’t be looking to move them on or do any changes to them at this stage in their life.”

The fundraising events start with the Teddy Bear’s Picnic on Saturday, 15 March, when visitors to the zoo can join staff and Free the Bears CEO Matt Hunt on the lawns by the Rhino Bistro to “celebrate all things bears”.

The “enrichment” items include a bear favourite – porridge. Photo: James Coleman.

This will be followed by an opportunity to watch the bears tear their way into the “enrichment” in the afternoon.

A high-tea event the following day (Sunday, 16 March) at the Jamala Wildlife Lodge will then serve as the “big fundraiser” for the charity.

Is there a fundraising goal?

“As much as possible!” Sophie says.

“The amount of money and time and resources that it takes to care for these bears for their lifetime is obviously huge, and we want to support them as much as we can.”

Visit the National Zoo and Aquarium for more information.