Video: Bears From Roadside Zoo Ring in the New Year at Sanctuary

For Immediate Release:
January 11, 2018

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

For years, two bears named Ben and Bogey (Booger) were displayed in virtually barren cages at a roadside zoo in North Carolina—but as new PETA video footage shows, both were moved to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado just in time to ring in the new year.

There, they took their first steps in their temporary enclosures—and after they acclimate to their new surroundings, they’ll be released into a vast habitat, where they’ll be able to climb, dig, and run. This year, they’ll also have the opportunity to hibernate—possibly for the first time ever.

“These bears’ days of languishing inside tiny cages are over,” says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet. “PETA is delighted that they kicked off 2018 in a beautiful new home where they’ll finally be able to live like bears instead of sideshow displays.”

The bears’ rescue is the result of a settlement reached in a lawsuit filed by two North Carolina residents who were represented by PETA Foundation lawyers and two local law firms. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—has helped rescue 67 bears, including Ben and Bogey, from dire situations in the past five years.