Famous TV Producer Charlie Ottley Campaigns for Bear Rights in Romania

The famous TV producer Charlie Ottley, the creator of the TV series ‘Flavours of Romania‘ and ‘Wild Carpathia,’ is one of the best friends Romania has ever had. For years he has constantly been campaigning to defend Romania’s old forests and their wildlife. He even had Prince Charles of Great Britain protecting Romania’s primeval forests in one of his documentaries, and he also fell in love with the country.

Now he has initiated one out-of-the-box initiative along with Agent Green, an NGO known for defending Romania’s bears. Together, they are campaigning for the informal introduction of bear rights in Romania and worldwide.

Bear right? Is it something like copyright? Yes, it resembles that up to a certain point.

Please, watch this short video where Charlie invites Ursus, a famous Romanian beer brand, to join the campaign, and you’ll better understand the concept.

Basically, Charlie Ottley and Agent Green kindly ask the companies using bears as their corporative or brand image to pay this bear right. Bears don’t have a voice, so NGOs and famous people try to speak for them. Interesting concept, right?

Here’s another one, targeting Tedi, the very famous brand loved by kids in Romania:

Nice, right? But, of course, Coccolino couldn’t miss the series. Here’s how Charlie invites them to pay for bear-right for using the bear image in their logos and products.

Recently it has been found that bears in Romania are fewer than the estimations. By 25% less than the official figures, as discovered following a two-year-long DNA study conducted by the Conservation Carpathia foundation. Precisely, while the Romanian authorities communicate there are 6,000 bears in Romania, the actual number could be less than 5,000.

One of the co-initiators of this bear-right campaign, Agent Green has been struggling for years to show the abuses committed in a country where the bear population is protected on paper. Still, it diminishes year after year because of the poaching and abusive bear-killing authorizations.

One of the ways they kill bears in Romania is by tagging the targeted bears as “dangerous” and issuing the authorizations to be hunted. The hunters, usually from the Western countries, come to Romania and kill the bears, apparently legally, but they are more like authorized poachers.

In May this year, Agent Green accused Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein of killing the biggest bear in Europe, Bear Arthur. Following the news, thousands of furious Romanians downgraded the ranking of one of the castles the family of the royal hunter has, Riegersburg Castle. In just a few hours, the rating of the castle on Google Maps dropped from 4.6 to 1.7. It required Google to stop the attack by suspending the reviews and erasing the ones related to Bear Arthur.

If you are a brand that uses bears in your logo, your name, your ads, or product design, you owe to give back a little by paying the bear right! Help Romania’s bears by clicking the link below.

Thank you!