The two bear cubs that were found near Sarajevo alongside their injured mother, who passed away despite all efforts by veterinarians, have been placed in a zoo near the city of Tuzla.
A Bosnian brown bear mum was found lying in the middle of a stone quarry near on Sunday. Her two cubs were sitting next to her, and according to local hunters who tried to help, they were desperately calling to her to get up.
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The bear and the cubs were taken to the Sarajevo Veterinary Faculty. However, veterinarians could not save the mother. It was previously reported that the bear could have been poisoned after eating vegetables sprayed by snail bait, but according to Forestry Inspector in Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) region, Muhamed Hodzic, she died due to injuries, possibly caused by a male bear.
The cubs were placed in a zoo owned by the Bingo company, near the city of Tuzla.
“The young bears are in good health and today we placed them in the best Zoo we have in the country at the moment,” Hodzic said, adding that the cubs will be cared for and monitored by veterinarians.
He added that this is the second time the institution found a home for bears that found themselves in such a situation.
“I want to thank Semir and Stjepan, employees of the forestry administration, who took care of the bears for the past few days and we named the cubs after them,” he said.
More specifically, the cubs were named after the nicknames of the two – the female was named ‘Sema’, after Semir, and the male was named ‘Pepo’, after Stjepan.
“We are aware that it’s best for the cubs to grow up in their natural habitat, but also that this is impossible in this case as they would not survive without their mother,” said Tatjana Paunovski, from Bingo's marketing department.
“Unfortunately, our country lacks an institution which could take care of animals that end up in this situation. Three years ago we got another bear, Sisko, the same way, he was found in Rakitno,” she added.
The cubs will now join Sisko and another bear, Maja. They will also live alongside 350 other animals of 39 different species.
