Popper and Michael Arrive
September 4, 2016
Early Friday morning, a big truck and trailer pulled into Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge with a precious cargo. Lions, Tigers, and Bears, an accredited big cat, bear, and exotic animal rescue, had arrived at the first drop off of four bears that they had rescued from 3 locations. Bobbi Brink, Founder/Director of Lions Tigers and Bears and her team were in the process of making a 7,000-mile round trip journey to rescue and provide transport to four bears in need of new forever homes.
Turpentine Creek had room for two of the bears, Michael and Popper, the other two bears would continue onto a GFAS facility in Texas. Unloading the bears and transferring them into their new separate night houses went very smoothly. Both bears looked happy and healthy once they were out of the small transport cages and into their new night houses.
Popper, a 10-year-old black bear caught by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, was picked up just outside of Orlando at the Central Florida Zoo. Popper was declared a nuisance by state officials after attacking a woman who came between her and her cubs. Typically, this results in euthanasia for the bear, but luckily Popper was spared. Her cubs have since been released back into the wild, but Popper had to remain in captivity and was ultimately moved to the zoo, where she has been since late 2014. Although the zoo has been very accommodating to Popper, they do not have the space to permanently house her there.
Michael, a nine-year-old black bear, was the first to be picked-up from a rural backyard in Sasakwa, Oklahoma. His human owner was no longer able to properly care for him and requested LTB’s help in securing a new home for Michael.
Both bears are now living in their forever homes. They are already stealing the hearts of the TCWR team and we cannot wait to see them flourish in their new habitat. Please help us, help them. These two bears need Sponsors and Adopters so that we can make sure that they have everything they need.
Watch Popper and Michael’s arrival at TCWR – Full video