Today a small farewell party was held in Vleteren for the cubs. Some visitors were allowed to hide cardboard boxes with delicacies in the Bears. A lick of honey on the boxes attracted the bears, who then tore open everything with great enthusiasm.
The young bears were born in the early 2023, after the sunwood saved their mother Sandra and a Male Bear from Ukraine three years earlier. To everyone’s surprise, Sandra turned out to be pregnant.
According to caretaker Bart Courtmans, Nanuq and Malenky get a beautiful new home in England, with forest, river and two other bears as a company. “It’s a double feeling. For our older bears it is good that there is a little more peace, but the farewell will hurt,” he says.