FOUR PAWS: Bear cub Nastia must be brought back to her mother immediately!
July 2012. The animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS has shocking video footage showing a four-month old female bear cub, called Nastia, being snatched from her mother and brutally pushed into a transport box that is much too small.
An animal trader had bought Nastia to sell her as a photo model for tourists. During the kidnap, the bear cub screams continuously and tries to resist her tormentors, as her mother runs panic stricken, to and fro in her cage. FOUR PAWS have been working tirelessly to locate the bear. Other footage shows the traumatised bear cub desperately hurling her tin cup against the cage wall.
"The most shocking pictures I have seen"
"These are the most shocking pictures I have seen in my long career in animal welfare", says Amir Khalil, head of the FOUR PAWS project in Ukraine, which also addresses the stray dog issue as well as abused bears. "A baby bear in the wild usually stays with their mother for two years. When taken away from her too early, the cub remains traumatised and suffers from a lack of real socialisation." Moreover, in contrast with the life appropriate for a bear, Nastia will live a tormented life if not rescued says veterinarian Khalil of FOUR PAWS.
Illegal sale
Selling animals from zoos to private buyers is illegal in Ukraine. Amir Khalil says: "We urge the Ukrainian government to immediately confiscate the young bear. There's no time to lose. This mother and child need to be reunited as quickly as possible. We are at the full disposal of the authorities and we need to establish a home for both bears, appropriate for the species."
Together with the Ukrainian authorities, FOUR PAWS have in the last months already rescued four bears that had to live in terrible conditions. The latest pictures show the brutality of the trade in wild animals.
THERE IS A VIDEO ON YOUTUBE OF THE BEAR BEING FORCED INTO A TINY BOX. IT IS EXTREMELY UNPLEASANT AND DISTRESSING SO WE HAVE DECIDED NOT TO SHOW IT HERE.
RINGWOOD, N.J. (AP) — A frightened bear cub got its head stuck in an oversized cookie jar while rummaging through some trash and had to be rescued from a tree in New Jersey.
Posts
