Saved! Bear who spent lifetime in squalid ‘jail’
WALLED in by concrete, Masha the bear’s only glimpse of the outside world was through the metal grille above her head.
The nine-year-old animal had been imprisoned in a tiny cell behind a restaurant, kept alive only by occasional scraps of food thrown in by the owners.
When she was finally rescued, firemen had to use bolt cutters to break open the inch-thick bars.
Unused to attention, the Syrian brown bear then needed to be sedated by a vet before she could be placed on a special stretcher.
It was the first time the animal had been cared for in years.
When she was stuck in her dismal prison, which measured just ten by 24 feet, Masha’s booming groans could be heard by nearby
‘Really appalling conditions’
diners, but no one ever answered her call. No one even bothered to lean over the wall to peer at the neglected bear.
Masha is one of at least 60 bears to have been kept in deplorable conditions in Armenia for decades.
But in her case at least, the story has a happy ending. After being contacted by a local animal welfare organisation, British charity International Animal Rescue (IAR) went to the country to save her.
It took several men on each side to carry her immense bulk into a waiting van. She was then taken to a special rescue centre set up for the neglected bears.
There, she will be kept in quarantined area to be checked by vets, before moving to a sanctuary. The charity, based in Sussex, has freed 30 bears from garages and builders’ yards, as well as private homes where rich owners wanted them as trophies. IAR spokesman Liz Key said: ‘We had been made aware of all these bears being caged up in Armenia for absolutely no reason whatsoever. They were just kept hidden away in really, really appalling conditions with no room to move and only junk food to eat, often in private collections. Some we have rescued had chains around their necks.’ Happily for Masha, her mother was rescued in the same operation – and they are set to be reunited at the sanctuary.