Arbesbach, 27 April 2023 – 25-year-old brown bear Mark spent over 20 years locked up in a small cage next to a restaurant in Albania before global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS rescued him in December 2022. He has been living at his new species-appropriate home at BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach in Lower Austria, since then. For the first few months after the rescue, the bear's behaviour caused his caretakers and the FOUR PAWS team great concern. Mark was withdrawing more and more into his den, seemed distraught and traumatised. Much to the joy of everyone, he recently began exploring his enclosure, and finally enjoyed his first bath in his pond.

When Mark first arrived at his new home, he found a safe place of comfort that he rarely left. He spent the majority of time since his arrival at the bear sanctuary hidden in his den, occasionally popping out his head to munch on some food. The team decided to give him the space and time he needs, along with medication and a healthy diet. After resting for a few weeks in a semi-hibernation state, Mark became more active and finally dared to take a little walk around his enclosure for the first time a few weeks ago. He seemed to enjoy the meadow, the forest and the exercise so much that he became more courageous day by day and explored larger and larger areas of his new enclosure.

Now Mark has made a new discovery just in time of spring arriving in Austria and took his first bath in the sun. Visibly delighted, he splashed around in the water – to the great delight of his caretakers.

BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach: A home for rescued bears in rural Austria

BEAR SANCTUARY Arbesbach provides rescued bears a life-long home in a near-natural habitat since 1998. It was the first FOUR PAWS bear sanctuary and was expanded in 2009. Mark is the first new arrival at the Austrian bear sanctuary since 2016. Including him, currently three bears are living on more than 14,000 m². Located in an eastern region of Austria called ‘Waldviertel’ (forest quarter) known for its unspoilt, rural landscape, the sanctuary offers space for the bears to express their natural behaviors, like bathing, digging, roaming, climbing and retiring in caves, either to hide and snooze, or hibernate in the winter.

Watch the joyous reaction of one of Mark’s caretakers here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CriBru7K1Fu/