By: Alicia Graef
November 4, 2017

Just a week after launching a campaign to help save bears in Armenia who are being kept in heartbreaking conditions and used as living attractions, the first two bears have been rescued.

These bears have been poached from the wild and confined to barren enclosures at restaurants, factories and bus depots, among other places, so they can be used to draw tourists and amuse their owners. After being alerted about their plight, International Animal Rescue (IAR) launched The Great Bear Rescue in an effort to shut this cruel industry down, and move those being confined to new sanctuary homes.

This week, they’re celebrating the successful rescue of the first two bears, Dasha, a female, and Misha, a male, who were being kept in a small cage that was half-submerged in water by a riverside restaurant in Yerevan.

Photo credit: International Animal Rescue.

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