In memory of Prince Charles
News
In November we bid a sad farewell to Prince Charles, when the oldest resident bear in our Romania bear sanctuary passed away.
You helped rescue Prince Charles from a barren, rusty cage in a derelict zoo, so he could spend his last few years safe and content in the lush surroundings of the World Animal Protection funded Zarnesti Bear Sanctuary.
At the stately age of 43 he had a new lease of life in the tranquillity of the sanctuary. Here the big, sometimes grumpy, old bear died peacefully of natural causes.
Joining us in 2012 from a volunteer wildlife rescue group called Project Ursus; Charles came to the sanctuary when the group took over an old zoo for use as a rehabilitation facility.
Concerned that the elderly and frail bear would not survive another winter in his cold cage, Project Ursus asked for help.
We knew the Zarnesti Bear Sanctuary, run by our local partner Asociatia Milioane de Prieteni (AMP) would give Charles the best chance of survival, plus plenty of peace in his twilight years.
Due to his advanced years and lifetime of isolation in captivity, he wasn’t happy hanging out with the other bears, and was given a comfortable forest enclosure all of his own.
It was here that Prince Charles forged an unlikely friendship with Luna the wolf, an equally unsociable character living in the next enclosure. Also rescued from a cramped zoo, Luna was finding it difficult to get along with the other wolves. The solitary pair were often seen eating together, and keeping each other company sitting side by side.
Thank you for letting this beautiful bear know a life without cruelty in his final years.