The third bear rescued from the Onești Zoo, has received an Australian name: Tariku. He has been baptized after a four year old boy, who picked lemons and sold them in order to help the bears from the “Libearty” Sanctuary. Tariku means “he has a story to tell”.
The tree bears that came from the Onești Zoo have started the New Year with new names. One of them has been baptized Ted, by the Australian actress Asher Keddie, who visited the Sanctuary at the end of October. The second bear was named Koda following a survey of the website http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Name-this-bear. Most of you have voted this name, so this is the “winner” name. The third bear was baptized Tariku, by the British singer Aleshia Dixon. Tariku is an Australian name and it means “he has a story to tell”. It is also the name of a 4 years old boy from Tasmania, Australia, who inspired Aleshia with his gesture, to chose this name.
The father of this boy has received a brochure from WSPA about the brown bear Sanctuary in Zarnesti and told the stories of the tormented bears that finally found their peace here, to his son. The kid was overwhelmed by the sad stories he heard and he started picking some lemons from the lemon-tree in their yard, he set up a table on the street and started selling these fruits. On his first day, he raised $75 through lemons and donations. They called this activity “Lemon-aid”.
Tariku’s fund raising turned out to be a big success. In just one weekend he collected 294 $. After stripping the lemon tree from their backyard bare and sold all the fruits, he drove around with his father, looking for lemon trees and knocking on doors. He gathered almost 200 lemons that he later sold at the local farmer market. He raised $123 from selling the fruits and together with the donations he has received from the local businesses he gathered a total of $294. Now Tariku together with his father are aiming to raise 300 pounds (460 AU $) so that he can get a bear to the Sanctuary and eventually name one.
