Hi - my name is Heidi Penna. I’ve had a lifelong love of bears since my early childhood, starting with teddy bears and tales of Rupert, Winnie the Pooh and Paddington. 

Nowadays, I am more concerned with the plight of the number of wild bears that are held captive in cruel, miserable conditions throughout the world -  and that desperately need our help.

When a friend told me about ‘Volunteer with Bears’, run by World Animal Protection, I knew that this was a challenge that I could not pass by.

So, in September 2018 I will be heading off to Romania for a week to work at a very special place called Libearty Bear Sanctuary. And I need your help.

World Animal Protection began building Libearty Bear Sanctuary in 2005 after AMP (a partner of World Animal Protection) highlighted the plight of bears illegally held captive in Romania.

Officially opened in 2014, Libearty is now home to over 80 European brown bears that have been rescued from lives of captivity and exploitation and is the largest bear sanctuary in Europe.

Many bears in the sanctuary have been rescued from small, rusted cages where they were kept as pets or attractions for restaurants and petrol stations.

Ever wondered how you turn wild animals into a tourist show?

Simple - you beat them, starve them, and chain them so they can never escape. Animals don't perform tricks because they want to. First they are 'broken'. Tortured. Traumatised.

Take Max, whose story moves more visitors than any other at the sanctuary. Born in 1997 and orphaned soon after, Max became a tourist attraction as a cub. He was chained near a well-known castle in Sinaia so visitors could pay to have their pictures taken with him.

To make sure he wouldn’t cause problems as he grew, Max was deliberately blinded and his sharp canine teeth and claws were cut off. Pepper spray was sprayed into his nose to keep him from reacting to smells, and he was drugged every day with tranquilizers dissolved in beer.

Rescued by Libearty in 2006, they have created a private acre-large enclosure for Max, pictured below in his new home where he can bathe in his own pool, hibernate in his own den, and spend his days enjoying the sun and the sounds of nature.

Rescued bears usually can’t adapt to a life in the wild, but, like Max, bears at the sanctuary enjoy the freedom of a natural environment in this 69 hectare facility located at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, where they have forested enclosures with oak trees to climb, pools to swim and play in and dens to hibernate and relax. 

Your support could help rescue and re-home even more tortured animals like Max, and stamp out this abuse for good.

Whilst I’m at the sanctuary I’ll be be involved with general maintenance duties; cleaning, painting, repairing fences, planting trees, feeding the bears and creating environment toys, and along with other volunteers, maybe even an educational trail and gazebo.

Feeding the bears alone is a massive task as they eat up to 1.5 tonnes of food daily, a whopping 15kg each, much of it donated by generous local supermarkets. Bears eat a mixture of fruit, bread and meat and this all needs to be sorted and then fed to the bears each morning. Bears love fruit and they simply adore honey, just like Winnie the Pooh.

This isn’t a freebie holiday - I will be paying for ALL the costs of the trip myself just like anyone else, but in order to qualify for one of the volunteer places I also have to raise a minimum £1,400 donation for the sanctuary. That’s a huge task but this is for such a wonderful charity I’m going to give it my very best. I’d love to exceed that amount and hope to hold additional fund raising events throughout the year and welcome your suggestions.

Any donation you can spare, however small, will go towards continuing the work by World Animal Protection.

£10 could help transport a newly rescued bear to safety at the sanctuary.

£25 could help expert vets treat the injuries of a wounded bear upon arrival.

£50 could help provide nourishing food to help keep bears strong and healthy.

If you are a tax payer you can also include Gift Aid which adds a further 25% to your donation at no cost to yourself.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving, they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. Not to me. So it’s the most efficient way to donate, saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

If you prefer, you can donate by text.

Simply text HMPB52 followed by the amount eg. £5 to 70070 

You can also add Gift Aid to text donations if you are a UK tax payer. Please ask the bill payers permission first.

And finally, please share this page on your social media pages. If just one of your friends makes a donation it will make a difference.

Thank you on behalf of the bears

Heidi  xx