A bit of Friday fluffiness for you...

Cubs are helpless to feed themselves and defenceless when very young, just as Rudi was when we first brought him into the sanctuary.

They have to be fed a milk substitute as they can’t eat solid food until they are six months old and the only way to feed a cub of this age is by hand feeding.

 
When a cub gets to six months, they are weaned off milk and human contact is phased out. Often with rescued animals (not just bears) a sanctuary is a haven which gives them the chance to live an almost normal life and should be a vast improvement on where they were previously.

However, wild animals ultimately belong in the wild and phasing out human contact is a vital part of this. At six months, Rudi needs to start learning how to act like a bear and that will mean eating food on his own, for a start!

    

Comments

[Gina Gentzler]

Hi Victor

has the sanctuary opened yet? I was volunteering out there and would be grateful for any information.
thanks in advance
Gina

[John G]

I was channel surfing last Thursday night when I stumbled, completely by chance, on the Animal Planet channel (a channel on Virgin Media that I don't usually watch).

I was immediately hooked on the wonderful story of the bear sanctuary in Romania. What a brilliant project. These majestic creatures should never be kept as 'pets', shackled and effectively tortured on a daily basis.

I hope you manage to liberate the other 20 or so bears that you know about in Romania.

I've also signed up a monthly direct debit for you guys. I'm glad to help out and make a contribution, however small, to your great work.

Let's hope we can end the bear bile industry in China as well in the near future.

Keep up the good work WSPA. Well done.

PS. The photos on this website are also wonderful.