Bear Luna

Our young, petite bear lady

14.5.2021

Years of suffering at an amusement park

Before Luna was rescued in June 2017 and got to our sanctuary, she lived locked up in a tiny cage at Aulona Vergnügungspark in Albania. Even as a cub she was exposed to many noises, lots of people and no protection from the weather.

In November 2016, we were finally able to rescue her and brought her to zoo Tirana, until she had enough strength to make the long journey to our sanctuary.

Luna has the best view!

Playful and small bear

Luna is a pretty small bear, only about 1,60 tall. She has bright fur and is quite slim. The young bear is very curious and likes to play with stick or enrichments in the forest. Sometimes she even climbs trees.

When it comes to food, she mostly eats everything. But like all bears, she gets especially excited about sweet treats like watermelons and grapes.

When many people are around, Luna can get a little nervous and often falls back into stereotypic behaviour which means walking in circles or licking her paw until she doesn't feel stressed anymore. To prevent that, our animal caretakers prepare a lot of different toys and enrichment for Luna and keep her occupied. She especially enjoys jute bags filled with nuts and straw.

I come from: the albanian amusement park Aulona
I am: sometimes nervous and can react insecure to new things. But I'm also very playful.
What the animal caretakers say about me:
Luna spent the first months of her life in a small cage which didn't allow her to remove herself from uncomfortable situations. She is still showing that behaviour today: If she gets stressed by too many visitors, she will not flee, but frantically suckle on her paw as a way to comfort herself. To reduce the stress that Luna is under, we often regulate her exposure to visitors, to support her in her needs and give her a best possible life. We do see a lot of progress though and are very proud, how far the little lady has come.
Fun story about Luna:
Luna is very skillful with her paws when taking apart or solving enrichments. Because of that, she often gets intricate or complicated enrichments for her to work on - she enjoys those very much! She does not, however, care about the looks of her enrichment. Our caretakers prepared a beautifully put together advent wreath, with intertwined pine branches, pine cones, honey, nuts and everything a bear could ask for. By chance, another quickly put together enrichment made out of some branches was offered at the same time... we can all imagine which enrichment Luna went for first and had the most fun with!