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Dec 12, 2008 6:37 pm US/Central
Boyd Animal Sanctuary Travels To Get 'Lucky' Bear
BOYD, Texas (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
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Int'l Exotic Animal Sanctuary
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Int'l Exotic Animal Sanctuary
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Int'l Exotic Animal Sanctuary
It's feeding time for an exotic animal sanctuary's newest resident.
"He's a real teddy bear," said International Exotic Feline Sanctuary animal behaviorist Louis Dorfman as he carried a metal mixing bowl full of grapes, berries and Fig Newtons. "He's a classic teddy bear."
Dorfman knelt in the corner of a large, grass-floored pen. In just seconds, what appeared to be a large ball of fur with a pair of eyes bound from its covered building.
Lucky is a six-month-old black bear. He was found ready to hibernate under a porch in Alaska. Alaska's Department of Fish and Game was just hours from putting the bear down when
International Exotic Animal Sanctuary, or IEAS, heard about it.
They made a call and "Lucky" earned his name.
"Someone there drove it to Anchorage to the Alaska Zoo," Dorfman said. "And someone there put it on Alaska Airways, and we got it a few days later."
Dorfman held a large bunch of grapes as Lucky quickly picked them off and chomped on them.
"He's very innocent, very bewildered by the changes that are taking place," Dorfman said. "He's learning to trust people. He doesn't know if people are to be trusted or feared yet. He wants affection very badly. He wants to be touched. He's just like any baby."
A description on the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary Web site reads, "The purpose and goals of IEAS are to provide a permanent sanctuary for exotic animals that have been abused, abandoned, neglected, confiscated, or previously owned by people unwilling or unable to provide for these magnificent beings."
The sprawling site in Boyd, Texas, just north of Fort Worth, houses nearly sixty animals. Many are big cats, like tigers, jaguars and lions. But the sanctuary more recently has added a large, five-acre natural habitat for bears. The roaming area has lots of trees, a pond, and thickets big enough for the two bears currently in it to disappear into and hibernate. Lucky will eventually live there too.
If someone makes a donation for the bear's upkeep, they can rename the bear. But until then, his caretakers are spending hours in the cage making Lucky feel at home.
"This is a true Christmas story," Dorfman said. "Here's a little innocent baby that through no fault of his own was about to be killed. And at the last minute, hours from him being killed, we saved him. And now he's going to have the best quality of life he can possible have in captivity."
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