Zoos are generally regarded as a pleasant and educational environments. It’s also a refuge where wild animals are safe from predation and, in some cases, abuse. However, this comes at the price of their freedom, as well as the potential for some animal mistreatment in certain circumstances.
The degree of abuse the animals endure is largely determined by the zoo in question. There are still some zoos that try their best to replicate the animals’ natural environment in order to help them thrive more, but we can’t say the same for every nation on Earth.
Misha and Dasha are two brown bears that were captured over a decade ago by an Armenian restaurant owner, who then kept them in cages instead of allowing them to roam and play as they would in the wild. The owner of the restaurant decided to confine them in a tiny damp cage for ten years without thinking about the typical bear lifestyle.
They were kept in a cage as a tourist attraction to draw customers into the eatery. The circumstances in which they were kept, which included putting them in an odd environment, was not good enough. When the river became flooded some years ago, the cage where they were kept was at risk of drowning since it was near a riverbank on the bank of a river.
Fortunately, when an international relief organization stepped in to save the trapped creatures, help arrived. According to Lis Key, a rescue volunteer with the International Animal Rescue, “A few years back, the river flooded and the bears almost drowned. As you can see from the rescue photos, the rescue team had to cut through the cages to release them, so they must have been trapped when the river flooded and in danger of drowning. ”
For years, the organization attempted to rescue the bears but was unable to do so until November 2017, when they were finally able to persuade the restaurant owners that releasing the bears was the better option. Getting the bears out of the cafe presented its own set of problems because rescuers had to cut through a steel cage with Metal saws.
Finally, the bears were sedated and removed from the cage, and they were taken to a sanctuary where they could enjoy the attention and freedom they had been deprived of for most of their lives.
Misha and Dasha are now in their third year at the shelter and doing well. The pair hibernated as expected last winter, and surprisingly returned this spring with two lovely baby bears, much to the surprise of everyone at the shelter since no one knew Dasha was pregnant in the first place. “She received all necessary care after being rescued, enough fruits, veggies, nuts, and honey to gain weight and fat before hibernation,” stated the coordinator for the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets, Vicky Mkrtchyan.
“But nobody guessed that her good appetite was a result of pregnancy. ”
Dasha, Misha, and their cubs are doing well, thank goodness. Both bears have recovered fully in such a short amount of time and are happier than they could have been at the restaurant before. These two pairs are among the fortunate few who will be saved because of it across the thousands of animals in America that require saving.
Some of these animals will get a second chance at a fairly typical life thanks to rescue organizations like this. There is still much to do to assist in this process, and you may contribute financially or by volunteering your time to help yourself.
