Two Syrian brown bears head for US after rescue from Lebanon zoo

Homer and Ulysses spent 10 years in cramped cement enclosures at private zoo in Tyre

A Syrian brown bear at a zoo in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon. Animals Lebanon, a Beirut group, said on Sunday that two bears, including this one, which were rescued from a private zoo in southern Lebanon, will be flown to the US, where they will be released into the wild.

Dr Marina Ivanova, a vet, checks a Syrian brown bear under anaesthesia at a zoo in Tyre, Lebanon. Two bears, including this one, which had been held in small cement cages for more than a decade, were rescued from a private zoo and will be flown to the US. There they will be released into the wild.

A Beirut group, Animals Lebanon, said on Sunday that two bears, including this Syrian brown bear, which had been held in small cement cages for more than 10 years, will be flown to the US and released into the wild.

Jason Mier, director of Animals Lebanon, right, and others carry a Syrian brown bear in Tyre, Lebanon. Animals Lebanon said that two bears, including this one, which had been held in small cement cages for more than a decade were to be flown to the US, where they will be released into the wild.

A Syrian brown bear stands inside its cage at a zoo in the southern city of Tyre, Lebanon. Two bears, including this one, which had been held in small cement cages for more than a decade, were rescued from a private zoo in southern Lebanon and will be flown to the US, where they will be released into the wild.

Jason Mier, director of Animals Lebanon, right, Amir Khalil, head of project development at Four Paws International, centre, and Dr Marina Ivanova, a vet, check a Syrian brown bear in the southern city of Tyre, Lebanon. Animals Lebanon said on Sunday that two bears, including this one, which were rescued from a private zoo in southern Lebanon, will be flown to the US where they will be released into the wild.

Animals Lebanon said on Sunday that two bears, including this Syrian brown bear, that were rescued from the private zoo in southern Lebanon, will be flown to America where they will be released into the wild.

Two endangered Syrian brown bears were on Monday heading for a new life in the United States after being rescued from cramped conditions in a Lebanese zoo.

Homer and Ulysses, each aged 18 and weighing 130 kilograms, had been living in a zoo near the southern city of Tyre, animal rights association Animals Lebanon said.

The group arranged for the bears to be released "after convincing the zoo owner that they deserve better than the small cement cages they were kept in for over 10 years", Animals Lebanon said.

The bears were flown out of Beirut late on Sunday to being their journey to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in the US state of Colorado.

Syrian brown bears are a relatively small subspecies of the endangered brown bear, but no longer exist in the wild in Syria or Lebanon, the UK-based Bear Conservation group says.

Animals Lebanon director Jason Mier said the bears were probably imported from eastern Europe.

They were supposed to travel to the US in late 2019, but the trip was postponed amid banking restrictions linked to Lebanon's economic crisis and then the coronavirus pandemic.

Four Paws, an international organisation taking part in the relocation, said some of its members first met Homer and Ulysses in November 2019.

"Trapped in tiny cages, some smaller than a ping-pong table, the bears had no water, sporadic food and inadequate shelter from the weather," it said. "Both bears not only suffered from malnutrition but also extreme stress."

Mr Mier said he was aware of about 30 lions and tigers, as well as around 10 more bears, still kept as exotic pets and in private zoos in the Mediterranean country.