For more than ten years these two Syrian brown bears were trapped in a Lebanese zoo.

Witnessing their terrible conditions, we could not leave them. The bears were kept separate in small empty cement cages. One had a tooth painfully protruding through his lip requiring medical care. They were both malnourished & underweight.

We could not give up, but we knew that with all the problems in Lebanon convincing the owner would be the only way to save them.

Finally, the owner agreed to turn Homer and Ulysses over to Animals Lebanon so we could get them to a sanctuary.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado agreed to take both bears. The sanctuary cares for more than 650 lions, tigers, bears, wolves & other animals – including a fox & wallaby rescued by Animals Lebanon.

Four Paws offered to assist with the care of the bears & help with the cost of the trip to the sanctuary.

A first attempt was made to get them to the sanctuary. But the collapse of Lebanon delayed their trip to freedom.

A second flight was scheduled, then COVID restrictions closed the Beirut airport.

Finally everything fell into place!

Only late the night before the flight did we get final confirmation – the trip, their freedom, was happening!

Homer and Ulysses were darted to sedate them. Then a quick medical check before being moved into large metal transport crates. They were finally loaded onto the air conditioned truck & we drove to the Beirut airport.

The bears flew from Beirut with Emirates, transiting Dubai before landing in Chicago. After all of the formalities they were driven to the sanctuary.

Homer and Ulysses were released into temporary holding enclosures within their habitat. They will then roam free with other bears in their 103 acre enclosure.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this journey possible! @wildanimalsanctuary @four_paws_international, @emirates, @karmagawa, & all of our supporters who so generously donated

Your 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓 is our 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 – & for many animals the only 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄.

𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 now so other captive wildlife get a second chance in a sanctuary animalslebanon.org/donate

#bears #animalslebanon

свернуть