A few weeks ago, I posted about bears and the abuse so many of them endure in the wildlife trade, in entertainment, and in the bear bile industry. Well, today I want to introduce you to Cholita. Cholita is an Andean bear (like Paddington!) who spent much of her youth in a circus where she underwent such severe trauma that all her fur fell out. Her teeth were broken claws and fingers were removed, too, and by the time Peruvian authorities took her from the circus to place her in a zoo, she was so scarred and hurt that finding a safe forever home for her was impossible for ten years. Animal Defenders Internationalrescued her early last year and, after several months of rehab, she journeyed to Taricaya Ecological Reserve. Lush and full of wildlife, Taricaya is worlds apart from the five-foot-by-five-foot cage in which Cholita used to live.
Watching Cholita, my heart breaks because it's clear that, even though she's in such a sweet home now, it's clear that she's still in a lot of pain just because of the scars of her past. She still doesn't have the toes of her front paws, and she'll never be able to reclaim the years of her childhood that were stolen from her. I imagine her as a baby being taken from her mum and from her natural habitat, and it's almost too horrible to think about. There are animals just like Cholita all over the world--animals who could've grown up with families and rain and sunshine and trees but who instead end up confined to metal bars and cold, hard floors. But the good thing is that it doesn't have to be this way for them! Cholita was rescued. All it takes to save the animals like her is action by people who really truly care.
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