Two Syrian bears transported from Lebanon to the United States for release into the wild

Activists said Sunday that two bears that have been held in small cement cages for more than a decade in Lebanon will be flown to the United States where they will be released into the wild.

The Beirut-based organization Animals of Lebanon said the two Syrian bears, now named Homer and Ulysses, were rescued from a private zoo in southern Lebanon.

The two bears were released after animal rights activists convinced the zoo owner that they deserved a better place than the small cages they had been kept in for more than a decade.

Al-Dabban was in the village of Hanawiya, near the southern coastal city of Tyre.

“No animal should live in such difficult conditions, without proper food, veterinary care, or housing,” said Jason Meyer, director of Animals of Lebanon.

“For the first time in their lives they will be normal bears, living in the midst of nature, able to enjoy their days,” he added.

On Sunday, the two bears, each weighing about 130 kilograms, were taken out to calm them after a quick medical examination, and then moved to large metal transport boxes for travel to the United States.

They were taken to Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, where they will board a plane to the Emirates and from there they will fly to Chicago and then they will be transferred to the Colorado Wildlife Sanctuary, where hundreds of lions, tigers, bears, wolves and other animals are cared for.

The Animal Organization of Lebanon closed four substandard zoos by returning the animals to sanctuaries in the United States, Britain, the European Union and South Africa.

Source: AB