Six Bears Move Home:

Rescued from the streets of Istanbul during the Summer of 1997, Erol and Guler were the first cubs to be confiscated and housed in a specially built nursery area adjacent to the main sanctuary, in Karachebey. Poached by hunters to be sold for street-side entertainment, the cubs were fortunate to escape the brutal training given to so many other bears. Four other rescued bear cubs later joined Erol and Guler in this cub enclosure. The main bear sanctuary was built by WSPA in 1993 to accommodate almost 40 dancing bears recovered from Istanbul, and is now managed by the Turkish Ministry of Forestry.

In September, Turkey once again became a point of action for WSPA's Libearty campaign, when the six young bears were moved into the main enclosure at WSPA's sanctuary for dancing bears.
The term 'cub' had become something of a misnomer for the robust two year olds, who are now big enough to live alongside their seniors. Here, in a forest setting that affords as natural a life a possible, the bears should flourish.

Unfortunately, during the same week, another three orphaned bear cubs were handed over to the Turkish authorities by hunters. They had been found in the mountains in the far east of Turkey, after hunters had killed their mothers, and were rescued by the Turkish Ministry of Forestry, who brought them straight to the sanctuary in Karachebey. The three of them will be temporarily housed in the nursery enclosure while WSPA assesses how they can be returned to the wild, perhaps next year.

Victor Watkins, Libearty Director, travelled to Turkey to meet with Birgul Rona, from WSPA member society THKD, to supervise the moving of all six bears from cub area to their new home.

"Enticing the bears out of the cub enclosure, and into transport cages for the move, was a game of patience," said Victor. "Some of the cubs were tempted to get into the cage by a loaf of bread dripping in honey, but Erol was not so easily fooled, and he refused to move from the enclosure that had been his home for the past two years. The resident vet, Ozgur Kollu, resorted to his second plan and tranquilized Erol with a dart from a blowpipe. Once he was sedated, Erol was carried the 200 metres into the main forest enclosure and placed under a tree to recover." Meanwhile, many of the resident large bears in the sanctuary sat behind a small dividing fence to watch the proceedings with interest. After the initial shock of seeing so many large bears watching them, all six of the young bears are now enjoying life in the Turkish woods. With the freedom to roam, they can enjoy climbing mature trees and splashing each other in the pool.