The bears traveled over 5,000 miles and now have a home in an animal sanctuary in Keenesburg.
Ten grizzly bears, who were transferred from a zoo in Argentina, are adapting to their new life in Colorado. The bears come from the Mendoza Zoological Park in Mendoza Province, Argentina, and are now in the care of the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, according to a news release.
The journey for the bears was 5,521 miles, but their lifestyle has undoubtedly improved from life in the Argentinian zoo. The zoo bears only knew concrete surroundings and only touched cobblestones and rocks with their large feet. One of the bears was forced to live in a sunken pit for 19 years after an escape incident.
The Mendoza Zoological Park closed two years ago. The zoo had been under scrutiny and became the subject of protests when a polar bear died in its care back in 2016.
But now, the grizzly bears are adapting to their new surroundings in the Colorado-based animal sanctuary. The director of Wildlife Animal Sanctuary, Pat Craig, told Colorado Public Radio that the sanctuary is the "next best thing" to living in the wild.
"We would love for them to go back to the wild if they could,” Craig said. “So what we try to do is give them the next best thing, which is as close to living in the wild as possible."
However, the sanctuary will not be the bears' permanent home. After an initial adjustment period, the sanctuary officials will transfer them to a 50-acre habitat at the sanctuary's Refuge. It consists of a 9,684-acre tract of forested land near Springfield.
The Wild Animal Sanctuary is a nonprofit carnivore sanctuary with over 500 rescued animals. Their mission is to rescue animals and provide them a better life experience than their previous arrangements. Most of the rescued animals live in large acreage open habitats and are never forced to be on display for the sanctuary visitors.
This news comes as another one of Colorado's wild animal sanctuaries is closing at the end of the year. The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Foundation in Guffey, Colorado, is home to wolves and wolf dogs and loved by many.
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