Four elderly bears that spent most of their lives behind rusty cages have taken their first steps of freedom after a Colorado prairie sanctuary and PETA stepped in to save them.
“They’re basically reborn in a very mental and physical sense,” said Pat Craig, who founded The Wild Animal Sanctuary, where the animals now roam.
“They were lost and almost depleted souls,” he told the Daily News. “They had no idea life was going to get better.”
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The bears — Fifi, Bruno, Pocahontas and Marsha — had been forced to do tricks, like riding bicycles, at a broken-down Pennsylvania roadside zoo when they were cubs, officials said.
They were kept in filthy, old cages without any shade or water to swim in for over 20 years after the Big Bear Farm Zoo in Honesdale shut down, according to PETA.
“The bears paced and swayed — a sign that they were trying to cope with physical and mental deprivation,” the organization said.
Heartwarming video, exclusively obtained by the Daily News, shows the four bears stepping out of their cages for the first time and happily frolicking in their new 15-acre grassy habitats.
“It was like watching children. We love to see that spark come back to these animals,” Craig said. ” Just in the first hour, they were already in the water bobbing for apples.”
The animals were rescued in late July with PETA’s behind-the-scenes help, officials said.
All four, ranging in ages between 22 and 32, had no muscle tone from lack of exercise and had begun losing a will to live, Craig said.
“It was sad to see. Even though they weren’t old enough to pass away from natural causes, they pretty much shut down and were ready to die,” he said. “Getting them here was probably the best thing that could happen.”
The bears were transported to their new home in Keenesburg, Colo. on July 24 after a 24-hour cross-country journey. All four have been adjusting well, officials said.
They are now receiving desperately needed veterinary care and have tall mounds to climb, large pools to bathe in and an endless supply of fresh fruit.
“It’s just an amazing transformation,” Craig said. “They have a purpose in life again.”
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