Jambolina, who had lived inside a cage at a Ukrainian circus since she was just a few weeks old, was rescued in December last year and brought to a Swiss alpine reserve to live out the remainder of her days.
CHRIS PLEASANCE: A bear dubbed the world’s loneliest after living most of her life in a cage at a circus has died just months after being rescued. Jambolina, who had lived inside a cage at a Ukrainian circus since she was just a few weeks old, was rescued in December last year and brought to a Swiss alpine reserve to live out the remainder of her days. The 12-year-old European brown bear had immediately settled down to hibernate – something she had been unable to do while in captivity – and only woke from her slumber in May this year. But she sadly died just two months later, on August 5, after being sedated so that a routine [dental] operation could take place.
‘It is with heavy hearts and deepest sadness that we have to inform you that Jambolina suddenly and unexpectedly passed away,’ a spokesman for animal charity Four Paws wrote on social media. ‘Shortly after Jambolina received her anaesthetic injection, her breathing stopped for reasons that are still unknown. ‘Despite all efforts to resuscitate her, she unfortunately passed away. We are currently investigating what caused Jambolina’s death’… An autopsy, which is about to take place in the Swiss city of Zurich, should provide further information about any previous illnesses that Jambolina possibly suffered of that might explain her sudden death…
Jambolina’s sad story had begun at a zoo in Crimea in 2009, when she was born to captive bears kept on display there. At just a few weeks old, she was taken away from her parents and sold to a circus, where she was kept in a small cage and trained to perform tricks for crowds – using methods that animal campaigners say amount to torture. She lived for more than a decade in the cage, having never seen another bear or been allowed to engage in any natural behaviour…
However, all that changed with the arrival of the Covid pandemic which meant the circus could no longer stage performances. Unable to earn money, Jambolina’s owner was forced to get rid of her because he could not afford to feed and care for her. Four Paws animal charity agreed to rescue the bear, and on December 8 she was sedated and loaded into a crate so she could be taken to Switzerland.
It took four days to move her more than 1,500 miles to the Swiss Alps, where she was given a new home at the Arosa Bear Land sanctuary… She was recently introduced to the first bear companion she had ever known – a male called Meimo who also lived on the reserve since being rescued from captivity in the Albanian city of Shkodra in February 2019. The pair were pictured playing together, and staff were pleased with the progress that Jambolina was making. SOURCE…
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