Video: Dillan the Bear’s First Sanctuary Moments

For Immediate Release:
January 23, 2020

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

On Monday, we shared that Dillan, the Asiatic black bear with severe health issues who was held for 10 years in a small concrete-floored cage at the Union County Sportsmen’s Club in Millmont, Pennsylvania, was officially on his way to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado—and today, new video footage shows his poignant first moments in his new sanctuary home.

After just one day out of the roadside zoo, Dillan has stopped rocking back and forth—an abnormal repetitive behavior indicative of extreme stress—and is embracing his new surroundings, tucking into feasts of fresh fruit and other foods (he particularly loved the grapes), soaking in the sun, splashing in his pool, relaxing in his hammock, and building his own soft straw bed. He’s currently being held in a cozy enclosure at the sanctuary’s state-of-the-art veterinary clinic as he receives the urgent veterinary care that he’s needed for years. After he recovers, he’ll be released into a vast naturalistic habitat, where he’ll be able to climb, dig, forage, and even hibernate after being denied the opportunity to satisfy his natural needs for so many years.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” and we oppose speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. We advocated for Dillan for nine months before he was finally released from the Union County Sportsmen’s Club. For more information, please visit PETA.org.