BEFORE AFTER
Six square meters is for a bear what one square meter is for a person. In a cage that size, you can barely move before you hit the bars with your nose. Imagine how Betty, a twenty-five-year-old bear from the zoo in Râmnicu Vâlcea, felt living in a six square-meter shed. This is a place where you’d keep tools, some spades and shovels and maybe a wheelbarrow. Since there wasn’t enough room for Betty in the 600 square-foot enclosure of the zoo’s newly renovated garden, the caretakers decided to keep her in the shed of the bear enclosure.
Nobody knows Betty’s full history. The oldest caretakers at the zoo had worked there for 17 years, but when they arrived she was already there on duty, entertaining the visitors. She lived in a tight cage until the zoo was renovated. The five resident bears (three female and two male) were put in a 600 square-foot enclosure, which was too small for them by law and by animal welfare standards. The males fought for space, which was hard on the old mama bear. To prevent brawls, Betty was moved to the shed, where she enjoyed a view of two fire extinguishers perched on the walls. She arrived at Libearty in mid-July. Being used to electrical fences, she was released in the third enclosure, with the other 17 residents. She hesitated for a few minutes, sniffing the mountain air. But when Monica came out to meet her, she disappeared into the bushes, starting a reconnaissance mission of the area. From the 6 square meters she lived in before, Betty now lives in 10 hectares … of freedom!
