Efforts underway to rescue two captive bears suffering at a Russian restaurant

For the last 20 years, since they were tiny cubs, two bears have been held in captivity outside a restaurant in Sochi, Russia. Kept in filthy, cramped cages, these defenceless animals have been denied a natural life, and instead are fed a diet of junk food by guests and even made to drink beer. Instead of grass and earth beneath their paws, home is a barren concrete bunker behind a steel fence.

This week a court order comes into effect, making the local Ministry of Natural Resources responsible for seizing the bears from the current owner. We are petitioning the Ministry of Natural Resources in the region to help move the bears from Sochi to a new home. We have arranged space for them at the pioneering bear sanctuary we fund in Romania, run by Asociatia Milioane de Prieteni (AMP).

Add your voice to the petition to help us ensure that these two bears can live out the rest of their lives in peace and freedom at the sanctuary.

We will work closely with local authorities to help rescue and relocate the two animals to the Romanian bear sanctuary.

Our Chief Executive, Mike Baker, said: “After years of neglect, poor diet and abuse, these incredibly vulnerable bears are in urgent need of veterinary care and attention. Reports are that one of them is completely blind. We couldn’t ignore the desperate appeals to step in and save these poor animals, so we have committed to rescue them and our experts are on standby to act.

We are working with our local partners, Big Hearts Foundation, to rescue the bears from their miserable conditions and to move them to the space and freedom of the AMP Romanian Bear Sanctuary, so that the first time in their 20-year lives they will the experience freedom that has been denied them for so long.”

After years of neglect, poor diet and abuse, these incredibly vulnerable bears are in urgent need of veterinary care and attention.