Being a bear of thirty years already counts as an impressive age for a brown bear. The old lady named Betsy embarked upon her last great journey to her new home. This included a plane trip from sunny Houston in the US to Romania and concluded by special transport vehicle in a vast open-air enclosure. For the 165-pound bear, it will be a considerable transition, since in recent years, she lived in a private enclosure, which looked more like a collection of garages, together with tigers and other exotics. The American authorities charged the animal welfare organization in Houston, the "American Society for the Prevention of cruelty to animals" (ASPCA), to locate a new species-appropriate home for the seized animals. First of all Betsy Bear was subjected to a complete health check. The full program, right up to a complete review of her overall stats.

Her dental examination revealed that it was necessary that two teeth had to be pulled for a new healthier "smile". Quite a lot to take for an old lady. But even after the health check was cleared, a bear of her age and stature is anything but easy to find someone that will have her move in. Although brown bears can live for up to forty years in captivity, no zoo was willing to take on the bear since the familiarization usually takes a lot of time and effort. So it was a welcome relief that The Bears Reserve in Romania's Carpathian Mountains (Zarnesti) decided to accept the lady bear. In the nearly pristine nature conservation area of the Southern Carpathians about 6,000 bears and 4,000 wolves live at present. The brown bear shipment was certainly no typical operation both for the animal welfare organization, as well as for the GK Airfreight team. A veterinarian accompanied the bear, which also had taken a special liking to marshmallows, on its journey from Texas via Frankfurt to Romania.

The entire trip was documented on Facebook and Twitter. The transition from its flight transport box to the special transport vehicle box was certainly a litmus test. Being far too big for the car, a special custom-made vehicle had to be constructed appropriately for the transport. But how do you get a big bear that has already become accustomed to her transient home into the new animal transport box? With marshmallows and lots of patience and of course absolute caution. A brave employee from the G.K. Airfreight Service team waited with the necessary security at the box to quickly pull down the switch of the stable iron grating. No sign of any wild side, all the bear showed up was a well mannered restraint.
Possibly the set age of the lady but more probably all the attentive care she received with fruit, fish and nuts, evidently led to her not showing an inch of aggressive behaviour despite the long and tiring ride to the Romanian Carpathians. She was happy with us, "said one of the supervising drivers, who had accompanied Betsy on her exciting journey. The informed zoos on the way that could be in reach in the case of any emergency were thankfully not necessary. Proved confirmation of a perfect coordination G.K. Airfreight were able to orchestrate in cooperation with the American private welfare organization. A journey no one will forget so quickly.

Betsy will however have to abstain from her beloved marshmallows - you can’t have it all! For more information:

http://www.houstonspca.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9867&news_iv_ctrl=1181