Zebedee went through hell. He was kept in a very small, dark kitchen on a bile farm in Vietnam for 14 years. Beaten as a cub, Zebedee survived with a broken muzzle and rotten teeth, which must have caused him unimaginable pain and suffering especially while eating. When he was finally rescued and brought to the Tam Dao Rescue Centre, for the first time he heard a bird. The rescuers realised that the poor bear had never heard the sounds of the forest, he had never had a childhood. Maybe that’s why sometimes he discovers a child in himself and just wants to play no matter what. Like this day, when the keeper was calling bears into the bear house. Only when there are no bears in the outside enclosure can they put food there. But Zebedee was busy playing with a cloth and he was not paying attention to anyone.
At first sight he looks like a normal happy bear, but if you look closer you can see the missing hair on his neck and a red eye – a left over from his past.
Zabedee, Mara and 160 other bears were rescued from bile farms in Vietnam and got the chance of a new life at the Tam Dao Bear Sanctuary in Vietnam.
Spread over an area of 12 hectares, the sanctuary has over 10,000 square metres of seminatural outdoor enclosure space designed to stimulate the bears’ natural behaviour. So the food in the Bear Sanctuary is spread around outside enclosure to encourage bears foraging instincts and to keep them busy and stimulated throught the day. In the wild they spend even 12 hours a day foraging for food.
Many of rescued bears have health problems.That’s why they need to get some medicines.
Bears are very food motivated. The tablets are hidden in banana pieces and they are given to the bears with a spoon and they get some honey at the end. They are also weighted on regular basis.