We Rescued a Bear!

The AZOU team and HAU — Wild Animal Rescue Center rescued a bear that spent its entire life in a cage.

In the village of Holoshyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, owners of a recreation base kept a bear in a cage. Tourists had brought it to them in a box when it was still a cub.

For 6 years, the bear lived in a 2 by 3 meter cage standing on a grate above a fecal pit so that waste would drain to the ground. The bear spent almost its entire life walking and sleeping on the grate. Recently, it gnawed through both the cage and the pit grate to be able to descend into it, slightly expanding its space.

The owners agreed to give the bear to animal advocates thanks to communication from the National Police of Ukraine.

The special operation to extract the wild, quite aggressive yet endearing bear from the cage and transport it was complicated by weather conditions (snow and ice) and mountainous terrain.

However, the bear’s owners, neighbors, and concerned locals joined in and helped do everything as quickly and safely as possible for the animal. Local residents immediately organized an SUV with a trailer, an angle grinder, and joined in the work themselves.

The team cut the fence with the grinder, our specialists sedated the bear, then quickly cut the rebar cage with the grinder, placed the bear on a stretcher, and lifted it nearly 2 meters out of the pit before transferring it to a transport cage.

Four hours later, the bear was already in the transport cage in the HAU special vehicle, munching on apples, eggs, and fish.

By 10 PM, it was placed in new (temporary) bear quarters at the “Domazhyr” Bear Shelter, where a dry bed of hay, tasty food, and adequate space awaited.

After treatment and adaptation, the bear will travel to a shelter abroad, where it will live on a large territory in conditions as close to natural as possible.

Thank you for the cooperation to the “Domazhyr” Bear Shelter and the National Police of Ukraine!