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PHOTOGRAPHS BY JASPER DOEST
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By Natasha Daly, Writer/Editor
When dozens of Ukrainian refugees arrived at the border town of Halmeu, Romania, last week, they found a curious sight: A European brown bear in the back of an open van, sniffing the fresh air. She’d just spent 20 hours cooped up, being driven out of Ukraine to a new home at a bear sanctuary.
People were thrilled to see Masha (pictured above arriving at a sanctuary). “She brought a smile to some really, really sad faces,” said her caretaker, Lionel de Lange. “I think they understood that she was going through the same thing as them—she had nowhere to go and no one to look after her.”
Masha, a former circus bear, highlights how the Russian invasion of Ukraine not only has affected the country’s 44 million people but its animals too. Dedicated caretakers like de Lange are putting their lives at risk to protect their charges. Some are whisking bears and big cats to safety. Others remain in conflict zones, desperately trying to protect and feed the thousands of animals left behind in zoos, shelters, sanctuaries, and on the streets.
Please read the full article here.
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