THE owner of a Donegal animal sanctuary says he hasn’t given up on rescuing two bears from Russia.
Killian McLaughlin, owner of Wild Ireland, has been working to bring Buu and Tiopa from Dagestan for over a year.
With the subsidence of the pandemic it had looked like transportation of the animals might be possible.
However the outbreak of war in Ukraine has thrown up a further hurdle in the rescue mission.
But Killian McLaughlin told the Donegal News this week that he remains confident Buu and Tiopa will still make it to Inishowen.
“We got word around this time last year of the two bears who are being kept in a cat and dog sanctuary,” Mr McLaughlin said.
“They had been abused and neglected at a young age so the lady who owned the sanctuary took them in. But as bears do, they grew so she reached out to rescue charity Bears in Mind who in turn got in touch with me.
“Bears in Mind asked if I had room and me being me, I couldn’t say no.”
Buu who is in a dog sanctuary in Russia. Wild Ireland hope to bring Buu and Tiopa to Donegal.
After agreeing to adopt Buu and Tiopa, the team at Wild Ireland set about developing a two and a half acre ‘bear forest’.
And while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proven to be a setback in bringing the bears to Ireland, Killian McLaughlin has vowed that it will not be terminal.
“I’ve come up against many challenges since I started Wild Ireland but I’ve overcome them. And I’m very confident we will get them out of Dagestan somehow.
“I had a meeting this morning with colleagues in Holland about maybe moving them to Azerbaijan and then to Istanbul where we could travel the rest by road.
“Basically we have two options – euthanise them which no one wants, or bring them to Wild Ireland where they can live as close to the wild as possible.”
Four-year-old Tiopa.
Buu is aged seven and Tiopa is four. But with an average life span of around 30, the animals do have a long life ahead of them.
“We will get them out of there. The big thing from Bears in Mind was not to lose hope. We will get them out, I’m sure of it.”
The fight to save Buu and Tiopa is being filmed by Moondance Productions and is likely to be aired at some point in the future.
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