These animals have been tortured by the owner of a restaurant in Tirana (Albania) and were kept for the amusement of the clients. They have been saved and now they will enjoy the freedom from the Libearty Sanctuary in Zarnesti. Since Saturday, the sanctuary has two new residents. Maria and her baby brother Marko, both 2 years old .The help came from a local lady named Montserrat Battlo. When she saw the conditions in which these bears were living she made everything possible to save them.
In random she found out that the owner wanted to sell them for 800 euro each. After several pressures, in April 2011, Montserrat Battlo succeeded to convince the owner to give her the bears in custody, taking over the responsibility of feeding them until she’ll find another solution. But another problem arose. There is no bear sanctuary in Albania, and their zoo is the sixth of the most miserable zoos in the world. “I have sent over 600 e-mails all over the world, searching for a place for Maria and Marko. I have contacted all the sanctuaries from the region, in Europe, in America in Canada…Nothing…No chance and no response…I have contacted the main organizations of animal protection, but nobody seemed to be able to help. I have decided anyway to get them out from the misery” writes Montserrat Battlo in her letter to Cristina Lapis president of the Association “Milioane de Prieteni”(Millions of Fiends) from Brasov and administrator of the Bear Sanctuary in Zarnesti.
The case of these two bears came to the attention of the Environmental Ministry in Albania. The officials got in touch with their counterparts in Romania and then with the bear sanctuary in Zarnesti. The savior of these two, Montserrat Battlo was very happy when she found out that the animals will come to Zarnesti. “I have read the e-mail three times as I could not believe it. Right after I have received the e-mail, I went to Marko and Maria and told them that someone named Cristina Lapis will take care of them and that they will be free to run and climb the trees, to feel the grass touching their paws and bath in the pools…I counted the days until their release”, says Montserrat Battlo.
Last week, Maria and Marko have been put into transportation cages and headed to Romania. The road towards freedom was full of adventures. “They should have made 15 hours to Romania, but they have made 76, with the bears sitting constantly in the transportation cages. It took such a long time because they couldn’t pass the border between Montenegro and Bulgaria. They spent the night there until they could finally pass by Serbia ” said Cristina Lapis, the president of the “Milioane de Prieteni” Association. The bears arrived to the Sanctuary on Saturday. Before being released in the forest, they will spend 24 hours in quarantine. “They will be revaccinated and a medical control will be made first, then they will be released in the training area where they will have to get use to the electrical wires and the freedom, then they will pass by a tunnel to the cub’s enclosure where there are 6 more bears living” said Cristina Lapis.
