18 Aug 2021

The NZ teddy bear hunt starts again

From Midday Report, 12:45 pm on 18 August 2021

Teddy bears around the country are coming out of hibernation to brighten up the suburban streets of New Zealand.

During last year's nationwide Level 4 lockdown, thousands of toy bears appeared in windows and driveways around the country, encouraging whānau to walk around their neighbourhoods and see as many of the toys as they could.

Now the whole country is in lockdown again, and the bears are coming back, says NZ Bear Hunt founder Deb Hoffman.

During the lockdowns that followed last year's nationwide one, Deb says she didn't give much thought to the return of the bears "'cause we thought it's so short it's gonna just be over'".

But this time "we're back on and it's all go", she tells Māni Dunlop.

Deb says she started the bear hunt as both a fun distraction and a way to boost community health and wellbeing.

"Originally I was thinking mums and dads that are stuck at home with kids but it just became multi-generational and has impacted so many people. We wanted to keep that going."

Since the current nationwide Level 4 lockdown was announced on Tuesday, there's been plenty of engagement on the Bear Hunt Facebook page, with photos and comments flowing in, she says.

"It's so cool that New Zealanders got this in their psyche and automatically did it."