Rescued bears 'making progress' ahead of move

Two bear brothers are making good progress after being rescued by a wildlife sanctuary, staff have said.

Benji and Balu were rescued from a cage near a restaurant in Azerbaijan and brought to the Isle of Wight.

The pair arrived at Wildheart Animal Sanctuary in Sandown on 4 June, after the site fundraised almost £218,000 to rehome the pair.

Staff say the bears were looking "quite thin" when they arrived, but are now doing well.

About two years ago, the brothers were relocated by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan from a restaurant, where they had been kept to attract customers, to a temporary shelter.

Wildheart Animal Sanctuary started fundraising to rehome the bears, having become aware of their situation in May 2024, and now a brand new playground beckons for the brothers.

Lawrence Bates, chief executive officer at Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, said: "Their diet hadn't been great where they were at. They provided them with what they could to be fair, but that wasn't a varied diet.

"So the bears were quite thin, by our standards. You could see their hips, you could see some of their spine."

The bears are set to be released from their holding pen into a new 3,500 sq m (3,7673 sq ft) enclosure on Friday.

After they have settled, head of bear section Lucie Francis said the team would work on increasing their diet.

"We're working on a very seasonal diet, so it will fluctuate through the year with the natural season and the availability that they would have in the wild," she said.

"Come towards the end of the summer, we will be introducing things like fish and we will be increasing that quantity of food as well."

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