In Ukraine, people are allowed to own bears privately as long as the cages are 322 square feet and 10 feet high and the animals were born in captivity.
JORDAN KING: A brown bear enjoyed her first day of freedom, snow, grass and water after more than a decade of captivity and abuse. Jambolina, 12 years old, spent her life in a cage and being forced to perform tricks for a circus in Ukraine. But after lockdown saw the zoo closed, leaving the owners unable to afford Jambolina, animal rights organisation Four Paws took the opportunity to rescue her.
Although Four Paws has a rescue centre in Ukraine, it is already at capacity with 22 bears. So the charity looked to Switzerland for help and Jambolina then went on a remarkable 1,500-mile journey to freedom. She travelled through Poland, Germany and Austria to get to the Arosa Bear Land reserve in an Alpine mountain range paradise just in time for her winter sleep.
When Jambolina first arrived at the sanctuary, she was extremely nervous about being in an open space, but scientific director Dr Hans Schmid said this behaviour was ‘completely natural’. ‘Scepticism is an important survival strategy for animals and humans,’ he added.
Now, Jambolina has emerged from her hibernation ready to enjoy her new freedom in the 28,000 square-metre sanctuary… Four Paws Country Manager in Switzerland Alexandra Mandoki said: ‘Moments like this give me goosebumps and it’s just incredibly beautiful to see how we can give the bears a new life’…
In Ukraine, people are allowed to own bears privately as long as the cages are 322 square feet and 10 feet high and the animals were born in captivity. But this is seldom monitored and people often go unpunished for breaching these laws, animal rights organisations say. SOURCE…
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