Latest news with #bearrescue
BBC News
27-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Bears kept inhumanely in Azerbaijan to be rehomed in UK
Two bears are set to be rehomed at an animal sanctuary in the UK after being discovered "emaciated" and injured at a restaurant in than £225,000 has been raised by the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, on the Isle of Wight, to build a "world-leading" facility which will be used to rehome Benji and two bears are thought to have been kept in inhumane conditions in a cage on the side of a restaurant, until their captivity was ruled to be been saved by Azerbaijani charity, Good World Animal Rescue and Protection (GWARP), the bears are expected to be transported to the UK within the next month. "Brothers Benji and Balu have lived a life of misery in a tiny cage on the side of a restaurant in Azerbaijan," the sanctuary said."Bored, hungry and suffering from serious injuries, these bears were kept there as nothing more than a novelty to attract customers." They were discovered "emaciated and in a very poor condition", caged in the woods with 13 other bears by animal welfare charity GWARP, which has since been caring for become aware of Benji and Balu in May 2024, Wildheart Animal Sanctuary fundraised hundreds of thousands of pounds to build a home for the 3500 sq m (37,700 sq ft) facility can host up to four bears, with the brothers set to become its first residents next month. "There are so many bears in need of rescue across Europe and a lack of facilities or space to house these bears who cannot be returned to the wild," the sanctuary's marketing director Lee Saudan said."We will provide them with bespoke care plans to ensure that they recover from the trauma they have experienced, with a forever home that will allow them to be bears again, with ponds and a stream, grass, trees, and places to hibernate, none of which they have every experienced before," he and Balu are expected to be flown on a flight sponsored by the airline Cargolux from Baku to their new home on the Isle of Wight in June. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
CBC
18-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Bear cub rescued from wildfire dies from injuries
The operator of a bear rescue organization in Manitoba delivered sad news on Saturday about a tiny, seven-pound black bear cub that had been rescued with burns to her paws, nose and lips from a forest fire. Judy Stearns of Black Bear Rescue Manitoba said the female cub, whose progress was being followed by many supporters on the group's Facebook page, hadn't survived the night. "She was such a little fighter and she had overcome so much with this ordeal she went through," Stearns said in a phone interview. "It must have been just terrifying because to have lost her mother is one thing, but then the trauma of the smoke and then the pain from her burns, so it's really sad she didn't make it." Earlier this week the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet, northeast of Winnipeg, was hit by a fire that destroyed 28 homes and cottages and left two people dead. Nearly 20 other fires are burning in the province and the Manitoba government has closed some provincial parks. Stearns said the cub was found hobbling back and forth on a road in the Lac du Bonnet area by someone involved in the fire battle. There was no mother bear in sight, and so she was brought to the bear rescue by the province's natural resources staff. She was coughing and wheezing from smoke inhalation and had singed fur along her back, Stearns said, indicating she may have gone underneath something that was burning. The cub was being called "Sayen," which Stearns said was of Indigenous origin and means "lovely" or "sweet." Stearns said she was on the thin side, which isn't unusual for a very young bear and indicated she may have had siblings. "Despite it all, she was alert and she did have some energy, because she wanted some milk … But mainly she wanted to sleep. She was exhausted. She slept most of the time for her first 24 hours," said Stearns. "But the prognosis from the vet was it's going to be hit or miss." Stearns said Sayen was the first cub the rescue received that was a fire victim. She said animals typically either outrun fires or succumb to them, but Sayen made it out because she'd made it to a road and was found by a person. She said the cub's death highlights the dangers that wildlife face from fires. "You get the slower animals like porcupines, they can't flee the fire. And this time of year it's especially devastating because all the little young ones are born. You get squirrels in their nests and little rabbits' nests on the ground, you get cubs like this and they're just decimated," Stearns said. The rescue posted a picture on Facebook after Sayen's death, showing Stearns' husband, Roger, with the baby bear in his arms.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Bear family saved from 'unimaginable suffering'
Three bears have been rescued from the backyard of a residential home in Yerevan, Armenia, with the help of a Sussex-based Syrian brown bears - Aram, Nairi and their daughter, Lola - were limited to "filthy cages" and denied "basic care", the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) found during an Animal Rescue (IAR), based in Uckfield, told BBC South East that their joint rescue with FPWC on 20 March took over 12 rescuers from IAR said the "stench" and "filth" was "horrific" and followed "years of unimaginable cruelty". "The sheer cruelty of locking these animals up in tiny cages and feeding them cola, it was absolutely horrific," said Alan Knight, president of say the male bear (Aram) was held captive for 12 years and repeatedly bred with a female bear (Nairi) taken from the daughter, Lola, was discovered with them, while previous cubs had been taken and sold, according to Knight said: "These were some of the worst conditions I have ever seen."IAR described the rescue as their "most difficult one to date". The rescue team say they were initially refused entry to the property by the bears' owner, despite having a legal a drawn out standoff, rescuers say they finally gained access at night-fall and worked to sedate and transport the bears "under heavy rain and darkness" using told BBC South East that the three bears are now under supervised quarantine and receiving urgent veterinary care at FPWC's wildlife rescue centre in Urtsadzor, appeal has been launched by IAR to fund their ongoing care and to help complete a new sanctuary where the bears can live.
