'Puppy' Found In Backyard Is Saved Once — But Now He Needs Help Again
It all started with good intentions.
In February, a man looked into his front yard and saw a tiny brown ball of fur.
"Originally the man thought he had found a puppy," Four Paws International, an animal rescue and advocacy organization, wrote in a press release provided to The Dodo.
But there was something a little off about this "puppy." He didn't make quite the right sounds and his claws seemed a bit too sharp.
"On closer inspection," Four Paws wrote, "it was clear the animal was a brown bear."
The authorities were on their way to supposedly bring the bear cub back to the forest and reunite him with his mom — at least, that's what they said.
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But something shocking happened.
The rangers of Kosovo's Sharr Mountains National Park, where the cub's mother lives, decided to keep the cub in a basement, even though it is illegal to keep bears as pets.
"The cub is still being kept by the national park management in the basement of a restaurant which belongs to a ranger," Four Paws reported this week. "The cub has little chance to move and rarely sees daylight."
A member of Four Paws even filmed undercover footage showing where the bear cub is being kept, in wooden crate in a dark basement.
There's a bear sanctuary nearby that would be the perfect place for the displaced cub to go — he'll be able to grow up safe and in the company of other bears. But the government currently is refusing to hand the cub over.
“It is shocking that the government does not abide by its own laws," Carsten Hertwig, a bear expert at Four Paws, said.
Each moment that passes is a moment this baby bear isn't getting the care he needs — and that's why Four Paws is encouraging people to speak up for the little animal.
"We have ... launched a worldwide protest," Hertwig said. "Every day the bear has to spend in the dark and filthy basement is one day too many."
You can add your name to a petition to help this baby bear get where he belongs.
Original post here.