WSPA - Bear Challenge

Last year I completed WSPA'S Bear Challenge in Romania's Carpathian Mountains, raising over £2,000 to support a sanctuary there for bears rescued from lives of cruelty and neglect.The sanctuary outside of Brasov was established and is run by a Romanina charity, Millioane de Preteni, which translates as 'Millions of Friends', predominantly houses bears but they also rescue dogs from the streets of Romania. WSPA help fund the sanctuary and support the education programmes there, with Victor Watkins, WSPA'S wildlife advisor.

It was an experience of a lifetime , the highlights being seeing wild bears running free in the mountains, and of course seeing their rescued cousins in the sanctuary.

I was lucky enough with Victor's permission to be able briefly to use some essential oils with one of the new arrivals , who responded very positively to oils useful for animals who have suffered past trauma and abuse. I hope to be able to work with the staff at the sanctuary in the future to use this method in supporting the bears to settle in to their new lives and overcome some of the terrible abuse they have suffered.The vet at the sanctuary is very keen to use these methods with the bears and with his other customers, so watch this space for developments in Romania!!

If you're inspired to help WSPA and it's member charities with their wonderful work helping animals all over the world, you can follow this link to their web site www.wspa.org.uk