Captive Bears Expert Team Co-chair

Lydia is zoologist specialized in applied ethology. Until her retirement in December 2017, she was curator at Cologne zoo and was responsible for several different taxa like ursids, felids and equids. She coordinated and supervised research projects on captive herbivores and carnivores to assess the quality of their keeping conditions and to base husbandry recommendations on scientifically sound data. Within the frame of the European Bear TAG she coordinated for 25 years the European Endangered Species Breeding Program (EEP) of the Andean bear and kept the studbook for sun bears in Europe for more than 20 years. Lydia obtained her doctoral degree in zoology 1984 from the Albertus-Magnus University in Cologne, where she gave lectures and courses on zoo biology and applied ethology. She is a member of the Bear Taxon Advisory Group (TAG) of EAZA and of CPSG and will use these connections to promote the role of captive bears for conservation education and conservation relevant research in the BSG.