
Freeing bears from captivity
We work in Romania to free bears that are being kept in captivity – often in tiny, barren, concrete cages – by private owners and zoos.
The first two bears to call Romanian Bear Sanctuary home

Cristi and Lydia were the first bears that we found in Romania and the first ones to be rescued. They were kept in a cage behind a restaurant and used to attract customers. After hitting financial problems, the restaurant stopped feeding them and they were only getting a few scraps to eat now and again. The bears called the Romanian Bear Sanctuary home in 2005 and moved to the 7 hectare forest enclosure in 2008. They can often be seen sitting in the pool playing with sticks and each other.