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You are here > Visitor Info > More Information > Wildwood Escot needs your help to rescue orphaned bear cubs

Wildwood Escot needs your help to rescue orphaned bear cubs

25th June 2020

Categories: Visitor News

The Wildwood Trust at Escot has launched a desperate appeal to bring two abandoned bear cubs to the UK before winter sets in. The two cubs were found in the wilderness of Albania after their den was disturbed, alone, afraid and without their mother. If funds are secured, they can be given a safe new life with the wildlife conservation charity, Wildwood Trust, but time is running out.

While we all enjoy the glorious sunshine and being able to visit Wildwood Escot once more, time is running out for the two cubs, named Mish and Lucy, who cannot return to the wild and while they are being cared for in Belgium temporarily, they need a permanent home in the UK before the winter arrives.

The team at Wildwood Escot are now calling on the British public to help. The Wildwood Trust has an international reputation for rehabilitating bears, after successfully rescuing two bears from an abandoned hunting facility in Bulgaria. Unfortunately, many attempts to return Mish and Lucy to the wild have failed and Wildwood Trust need help to give these wonderful cubs as natural a life as possible. The pair are being well looked after in Belgium currently, but their facility is unsuitable for the long term. Their compound is too small for crucial development, bear cubs require lots of enrichment to give them the best chance to develop their natural behaviours, they need to explore, play and learn to forage, making it vital that they are rehomed and brought to the UK before the winter sets in.

Wildwood Escot is asking for dontations to help build a new woodland home and to help bring Mish and Lucy over to the park. To ensure that they enter the UK safely, the pair will need to initially stay at Wildwood Trust in Kent while their home at Wildwood Escot is finalised for 2021.

George Hyde, General Manager at Wildwood Escot, said: “Mish and Lucy could not survive in the wild. Wildwood Escot will give them a unique, natural woodland home and enables them to live full and rich lives in as close as possible to their natural habitat.”

Donations can be made on the campaign website here https://chuffed.org/project/mish-and-lucy Or via the donation hotline, 01227 712111.