It was almost three decades ago that a sweet, little bear named Fifi was transferred to a small-town zoo in Pennsylvania to be a part of one of their exhibits. She enjoyed her stay at first, but then her trainers required that she begin performing a series of difficult tricks for those who attended the zoo. In these tricks, Fifi was required to stand on her hind legs like a human for extended periods of time. If Fifi didn’t perform, she didn’t eat.
Then, Fifi’s world became far worse than the living hell that she was already in. After 10 years of performing cruel tricks for those humans that watched her, Fifi’s zoo was shut down on account of the owners being unable to pay the bills to keep it open. You would think that Fifi would have been shipped out to another zoo or transferred to a humane society, but she wasn’t! For almost twenty years, Fifi was left in her cage in the zoo with no one on the outside world knowing that she was in there.
During this time, Fifi struggled to survive in her cage. All that she had for shelter was a broken down dog house which grew more tarnished over the years and which was far too small for her massive body. She would chew on the foliage which grew up around her cage for nourishment, but this vegan diet hardly sufficed for Fifi, who is carnivorous. On top of that, many years of performing horrid tricks for bystanders left Fifi with severe, highly painful arthritis in her hind legs that she struggled with for many years on a daily basis.
Thankfully, Fifi’s horrible suffering finally came to an end a short while ago when the good work done by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and the Wild Animal Sanctuary project brought her plight to the light. These two groups discovered that Fifi was trapped in that awful cage out in a “desert town” , so to speak, where no one could see or hear her cries for help. They quickly moved to rescue her and began her on a rapid nourishment plan in order to ensure that she stayed alive.
After making sure that Fifi was out of critical condition, the two heartwarming organizations moved her to a wildlife sanctuary in Colorado which was fully furnished by the Wild Animal Sanctuary. There Fifi is allowed to roam the wilderness free besides over four hundred other rescued animals on a sprawling landscape of 720 acres.
That was in July of 2015. Ten years ago, Fifi was extremely skinny, had severe arthritis, had mangy and sad-looking fur, and was in immediate danger of death. Now, just one short year after she was rescued, Fifi looks like a real bear again, with a coat full of glorious fur, a happy chagrin as she roams the landscape, her arthritis has been treated and is gone, and a full body that indicates she hasn’t missed a good meal in a long time.
All of this is thanks to the efforts of those working at PETA and the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Truly, these two groups combine on many occasions to perform some of the most charitable, kind-hearted work for nature and animals of all kinds. If you would like to learn more about what People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Wild Animal Sanctuary do, as well as how you can contribute your efforts or donate funds, please feel free to visit their organization websites at the links below: