Bears kept inhumanely in Azerbaijan to be rehomed in UK
"Brothers Benji and Balu have lived a life of misery in a tiny cage on the side of a restaurant in Azerbaijan," the sanctuary said."Bored, hungry and suffering from serious injuries, these bears were kept there as nothing more than a novelty to attract customers."
They were discovered "emaciated and in a very poor condition", caged in the woods with 13 other bears by animal welfare charity GWARP, which has since been caring for them.Having become aware of Benji and Balu in May 2024, Wildheart Animal Sanctuary fundraised hundreds of thousands of pounds to build a home for the bears.The 3500 sq m (37,700 sq ft) facility can host up to four bears, with the brothers set to become its first residents next month.
"There are so many bears in need of rescue across Europe and a lack of facilities or space to house these bears who cannot be returned to the wild," the sanctuary's marketing director Lee Saudan said."We will provide them with bespoke care plans to ensure that they recover from the trauma they have experienced, with a forever home that will allow them to be bears again, with ponds and a stream, grass, trees, and places to hibernate, none of which they have every experienced before," he added.Benji and Balu are expected to be flown on a flight sponsored by the airline Cargolux from Baku to their new home on the Isle of Wight in June.
You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Wales' papers: 4.8% teacher pay award rejected and hero dad risks life to save boy
Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Lottery results and numbers: Lotto and Thunderball draw tonight, July 23, 2025
THE NATIONAL Lottery results are in and it's time to find out who has won a life-changing amount of money tonight (July 23, 2025). Could tonight's £8.7million jackpot see you handing in your notice, jetting off to the Bahamas or driving a new Porsche off a garage forecourt? 3 3 You can find out by checking your ticket against tonight's numbers below. Good luck! Tonight's National Lottery Lotto winning numbers are: 03, 09, 11, 16, 21, 48 and the Bonus Ball is 22. Tonight's National Lottery Thunderball winning numbers are: 11, 15, 25, 27, 28 and the Thunderball is 04. The first National Lottery draw was held on November 19 1994 when seven winners shared a jackpot of £5,874,778. The largest amount ever to be won by a single ticket holder was £42million, won in 1996. Gareth Bull, a 49-year-old builder, won £41million in November, 2020 and ended up knocking down his bungalow to make way for a luxury manor house with a pool. TOP 5 BIGGEST LOTTERY WINS ACROSS THE WORLD £1.308 billion (Powerball) on January 13 2016 in the US, for which three winning tickets were sold, remains history's biggest lottery prize £1.267 billion (Mega Million) a winner from South Carolina took their time to come forward to claim their prize in March 2019 not long before the April deadline £633.76 million (Powerball draw) from a winner from Wisconsin £625.76 million (Powerball) Mavis L. Wanczyk of Chicopee, Massachusetts claimed the jackpot in August 2017 £575.53 million (Powerball) A lucky pair of winners scooped the jackpot in Iowa and New York in October 2018 Sue Davies, 64, bought a lottery ticket to celebrate ending five months of shielding during the pandemic — and won £500,000. Sandra Devine, 36, accidentally won £300k - she intended to buy her usual £100 National Lottery Scratchcard, but came home with a much bigger prize. The biggest jackpot ever to be up for grabs was £66million in January last year, which was won by two lucky ticket holders. Another winner, Karl managed to bag £11million aged just 23 in 1996. The odds of winning the lottery are estimated to be about one in 14million - BUT you've got to be in it to win it. 3
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Weston woman wins British Citizen Award for creating food bank
A young woman has won a British Citizen Award for creating her own food Ahmed from Weston-super-Mare built her own charity with studying for a law degree, which she has now Food Charity was created after Miss Ahmed, 21, spent her childhood with her father who would give out free meals to those who needed them, from his said: "When I was five years old I would see [my dad] doing all of the work and I would say to him 'let me help you'." "He instilled it into us as we've grown up," she 2015 Miss Ahmed began to help people by herself and support for her work grew by word of October 2023, Aishah's Food Charity was officially launched after the Covid pandemic, as a hot meal food bank."I saw the struggle from lockdown and the rising of the cost of living and I said to myself I've got to do something," she Wednesday Miss Ahmed works at her charity, on Walliscote Road in Weston-super-Mare, and it is also ran by volunteers on Sundays. 'It means everything' Miss Ahmed's father and brother do all of the cooking and her mother and sister and her take the food to site, package it, and hand it out to well as this, the charity reached out to various supermarkets including Lidl, Aldi, Sainsbury's and Asda who provide food for them to donate."It makes me feel good - The whole reason I do it is because I want those who are less fortunate to have things they want."The charity has also branched out by now donating items like sleeping bags and tents and bed sheets."It means everything to me this charity, it really does" she said.
