Pair of bears hold rooftop protest

[Mickey]

Pair of bears hold rooftop protest

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Grizzly: 'Feed me!'

A mother bear and her young cub stopped traffic and caused chaos as they ran loose across a city.
The pair of bears roamed through gardens in search of food and finally climbed the stairs of a four-storey building and occupied the roof.
A Romanian rescue team finally shot the mother with a tranquilliser dart after failing to steer her toward a nearby forest.


Stunned residents had reported that the animals were wandering through gardens and breaking fences in downtown Brasov, 150 miles north-west of the capital Bucharest.
Traffic was stopped for two hours as a team tried to get the animals back to the wilderness.
Flavius Barbulescu, head of the local animal protection service, said: "The bear cub was very small and could not keep up with its mum, and she did not want to go back to the forest without it."
The animals finally took refuge in a building, climbing the stairs to the attic, breaking a window and then clambering onto the roof.
"That was when we decided to tranquillise the mother," Barbulescu said.
Once she was asleep, they removed her and her cub from the roof and took the pair to the zoo in an operation shown live on TV.
Officials said the animals would be sent to a nearby bear reservation.
Brasov is one of Romania's largest cities and a popular tourist destination.
Sightings of bears are common, especially in the district of Racadau, where the animals rummage through garbage container in search for food.
Romania is home to about half of Europe's brown bears.

Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/ar...&in_page_id=64

[B B Leo]

ah a happy ending