Liberty Bear Sanctuary, Romania

Bear Sancuary. 

Yesterday we all went to a bear sanctuary to see some brown bears that have been rescued from terrible conditions. We came early in the morning to avoid the large crowds and we ended up with a group of around twenty people. 

Around eighty percent of the bears were used for tourist attractions before they came to the Sanctuary and were kept in small iron cages for people to look at. Most of the time their so called “Owners” would forget to feed them or give them water! In the summertime, the iron bars would heat up hurting the bear's paws as bars lined the floor as well. Some of them stayed in these conditions for more than 15 years! Two of these bears were even blinded when they were cubs.  Their claws were removed too. It was a horrible life.

We started our tour by watching a video made to show the bears' conditions before they arrived here. We then saw one of the cages that the bears were forced to live in! Some bears had never left these cages their whole lives. Our tour guide explained that the bears live in a forest enclosure and still get fed by the workers. The bears have lost their instincts to hunt and care for themselves. The bears have been given food by humans their entire life and they still rely on it. Although, if they wanted to they could forage for food too as they are omnivores and the sanctuary will only feed them meat. 

There were also wolves at this sanctuary. We saw them at the end as we were on our way out. There were only two and they had created a pack with just them. When the sanctuary tried to bring another wolf into their pack, the two wolves nearly killed it.

The tour lasted for around an hour and I learnt so much! It was a really great tour and the bears were so interesting.

By Ruby!