Appointment with Assisi

After breakfast the moment has come to meet our friend Assisi.

Assisi

I swear he smiled at us as we walked up to the cage. What a beautiful boy he is. Despite his horrible past and dubious health he is a strong-looking big bear with a shiny black coat and a glorious gold crescent across his chest.

Assisi meets Liane

His paws are massive and I almost wonder whether he has grown into them fully. But after years in a bear bile cage I guess the growing stopped long ago. His enormously sharp claws had never been clipped while he was at the bear bile farm and consequently, they grew back into the pads of his paws, causing infection and incredible pain. But now his paws are healthy and claws manicured.

Instant friendship from a treat !

As I introduce myself he regards me with interest. That interest increases when I produce the chopped apples. Apparently, Assisi is a sucker for sweet things and top of the list is chocolate sauce and honey.

Assisi and Liane

We sat there and I was able to admire him. I just wanted so much to reach out to him and hug him and tell him he is in a good place now. But somehow, I think he knows that. Each day as part of the ‘enrichment programme’ the bears are given treats and stimulated with toys. The enrichments range from dried fruit hidden in bamboo tubes to frozen fruit and juice iceblocks, listening to music – apparently Mozart is a favourite – noisy toys that they can shake, raw hide to chew on and water sprinkled to simulate rain, which they love.

Assisi

I have been told by the vet nurses and bear managers that Assisi is a gentle, good natured and calm bear. Once he has finished his recovery from the operations to remove his rotten and broken teeth, repair the infected hole in his abdomen where the steel tube was shoved, and the removal of his testicles, he will begin his integration process.

Assisi's arrival at the Sanctuary

It is a long and slow process to ensure the bears are physically and mentally ready to be placed in enclosures with other bears. House mates are chosen very carefully. During the 4-6 week recovery time, vets and other staff observe very carefully each new bear and work out what their temperament is and who will make good friends. It is quite remarkable that these bears who would normally be solo in the wild, live harmoniously with other bears at the sanctuary.

Hopefully, Assisi’s memories of being imprisoned in a cage no bigger than his own body and the extreme pain from being “milked” every day for his bile, is fading and being replaced by hope and trust.

A grim reminder of the cages inside which these bears spent their lives

No longer caged and alone, Assisi is with friends. Soon he will be able to stand for the very first time in his life. As Rainbow, one of the Sanctuary staff who has hosted me each day, says, “When the bears leave their den for the first time and walk out into the open, they stand up and automatically reach up for bars, only to find there are none. This is when you see the happiness burst from their eyes.”

Just loungin' around enjoying the day