On 5th of April 2019 it finally happened: The female brown bear Dushi arrived at her new home, our BEAR SANCTUARY Müritz. The bear had to suffer for many years and was kept under terrible conditions in the albanian zoo Safari Park Zoo Fier. In Oktober 2018 she was finally freed from her cage in a big rescue mission.

Dushi spent years in a small and dirty cage at Safari Park Zoo Fier, also called "Europe's worst zoo". After her rescue, she was brought to the zoo Tirana so that she could gather enought strength for the long journey to Germany. 

The bear lady had one missing foreleg. We first didn't know how she lost it, but when we had her checked by our wildlife vetenarian in September 2019, we found bullet fragments in both of her front legs. We guessed that somebody shot her in the cage and that Dushi lost her leg due to that. The wound wasn't treated properly but healed somehow on its own.

Wildlife veterinarian Marc Gölkel explains: “Since Dushi receives appropriate food, she’s reached a healthy weight. Her fur also shows that her condition has significantly improved." Our animal caretakers took good care of the albanian brown bear and made sure she can slowly forget about her terrible past and focus on her new life here at our rescue center.

The day Dushi left her box for the first time was a very special day. She slowly started exploring her new enclosure. Paw by paw she left the box - her safe place - behind and sniffed the grass, the air, flowers. Everything was new to her. Dushi was very interested in her bear neighbours, too. Luna was sitting in the enclosure next to her, watching her every move. In order to gain a better view of Luna, Dushi stood up on her hind legs and put her noise up in the air.

Brown bear Dushi was about 1,70 m tall. It is estimated that she was born in 2009, we don't have detailed information about that. 

In a short time, we had figured out that Dushi was very picky about the food she eats: Grapes, apples and carrots were her favourite treats, along with everything sweet. She already ate lots of carrots and apples when she was staying in Tirana. The first time she tried grapes was when she arrived at our sanctuary. Cucumbers, Zucchini, turnips or tomatoes were absolutely not appreciated.

After the animal care team noticed that Dushi was suddenly limping heavily on her right hind leg, they reacted quickly and took Dushi to a protected area. They immediately provided her with pain medication. Veterinarian Julia Bohner from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) in Berlin was quickly on site to examine Dushi. The X-ray examination showed that Dushi's femoral neck bone had probably broken as a result of an accident.

The injury was so serious that, according to the experts, lengthy and, above all, painful treatment with little chance of a successful recovery would have prolonged Dushi's suffering. In consultation with the vet, it was decided that Dushi should be spared this.