Johannesburg - A male brown bear, who was abandoned at a private location in the war-torn Donetsk region and fed by the Ukrainian military for the last couple of days, was brought to safety on Thursday.
After an emergency rescue and transfer, the large mammal arrived at BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr in Ukraine, which is run by global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS.
“The stressed and malnourished animal was found in its destroyed enclosure with a broken roof damaged by shelling fragments,” Barbara van Genne, who is responsible for Wild Animal Rescue and Advocacy at FOUR PAWS, said.
“Now the experienced team of the bear sanctuary will examine his health status and further assess long-term solutions for the bear.”
She added that FOUR PAWS continues to tackle the illegal private keeping of wild animals in Ukraine despite the ongoing war.
The transport of the bear was carried out by a local Ukrainian partner organisation of FOUR PAWS, Wild Animal Rescue, who safely brought the exhausted animal to the safe custody of BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr, which is located in the western part of Ukraine.
“After the Ukrainian military was not able to feed the bear any longer, they informed Wild Animal Rescue, who immediately responded and also reached out to FOUR PAWS,” van Genne said.
“We are very happy that we could take in the bear at the very last minute as he was already very weak.”
Van Genne added that now a decision must be made on whether the bear can stay at BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr a bit longer as hibernation season is coming up.
“This will obviously also depend on the medical assessment scheduled for tomorrow. We will make sure the bear can live a species-appropriate life from now on, either in our care or in a similarly suitable bear sanctuary.
FOUR PAWS officially opened BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr for visitors in October 2017. Thirty-one bears rescued from catastrophic keeping conditions now live on the 15-hectare site, including the new arrival.
With the construction of BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr, FOUR PAWS has created a species-appropriate home for rescued bears, originally supporting the Ukrainian government with enforcing the ban on the cruel practice of bear baiting in the country. For this purpose, bears are being chained and abused as bait objects for the training of hunting dogs. Now, the bear sanctuary also provides a home for individual animals rescued from other cruel forms of bear keeping as well.