BERLIN — Dasha, Coco and Luka of Armenia owe their freedom, in part, to a woman in Berlin.
Animal lover Laurence Holyoak is program manager of nonprofit International Animal Rescue, US, whose projects include the rescue and rehabilitation of brown bears caged at restaurants and other public venues. The bears are used as tourist attractions and many spend years in tiny, barren cages with little food and water and no means to express natural bear behavior.
Holyoak, a Shrewsbury High graduate who formerly lived in Boylston, moved to Berlin in 2010, when she got married and moved to her husband’s hometown.
“My mother was a science teacher and instilled a love of nature in us,” she said. “We spent a lot of time in the woods. I grew up in a house filled with animals. If someone found a robin with a broken wing, it was delivered to our house, and we would care for it. Jane Goodall and David Attenborough were my heroes.”
Holyoak studied wildlife conservation in college and got a master’s degree in applied animal behavior and animal welfare at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
“I heard about the plight of the dancing bears and knew I wanted to help them,” she said. “I moved to India, lived at the sanctuary and dedicated my dissertation to the bears. I got involved with the program from the ground up. When I moved back to the States, they asked me if I would consider opening an office in America. I have been here ever since.”
Holyoak said she thought it would take her lifetime to get the last dancing bears off the streets, but it was accomplished by 2009.
“We were as successful as we were because we worked with the local people to offer them alternative livelihoods that were better than bear dancing,” she said. “We will be caring for those 300 bears for the next 30 years, but it put us in a position where we could turn our attention to another issues.
“We heard about the bears suffering in Armenia and partnered with a local group to help them get the job done,” she added. “We have rescued 20 bears in Armenia, and there are about 50 left. I have been helping to raise the money to build the center so to get to see it firsthand was incredible. I have been raising money to build a maternity ward, since these special situations like Dasha and her cubs keep coming up.
“Last year, we rescued two cubs whose mother had been illegally shot by hunters. We were able to raise them and release them back to the wild. Those bears need to be kept away from other bears and away from humans so that they don’t associate them with food.”
The bear release on the recent Armenia trip was a first for Holyoak and the organization.
“It is the first time a release like this has ever been done,” Holyoak said after returning from Armenia. “Dasha was the first bear we rescued because she had been kept in a cage that was built into a river that would flood, so she was always in danger. She had been there for 10 years just living off the scraps people had thrown her. She was brought to our center in the mountains for rehabilitation and when she emerged from hibernation, she had two cubs with her. We did not know at first that she was pregnant, but she had been kept with a male bear for some time.”
Dasha was in the rehabilitation center for over a year.
“We kept her cubs away from people and other bears so they could grow up wild. Once we saw that she could find food on her own and properly hibernate, we knew she could survive in the wild,” Holyoak said.
Dasha was fitted with a radio collar. “We needed a military truck to carry the three cages and drove several hours into the mountains to a very remote area. Watching that mother and cubs run free was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced — and on Mother’s Day, no less.”
The rangers have tracked Dasha and, so far, she is doing well.
In November 2017, in conjunction with an Armenian group called Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets, IAR launched the Great Bear Rescue. The campaign aims to rescue what could be as many as 80 caged bears in Armenia, rehabilitate them and give them the life they deserve. With funding from IAR, FPWC has built a bear rescue center high in the mountains of Armenia where the bears can recover from the neglect they have suffered and learn to enjoy life.
Dasha and her cage companion Misha were rescued in 2017 from a riverside restaurant. Misha subsequently died.
Dasha and her cubs were not the only bears that gained their freedom.
“Since we had an open enclosure, we were able to release Max and Minnie, two bears that have been in quarantine since they were rescued, out into the outdoor enclosure. It was the first time they have ever felt grass beneath their feet,” Holyoak said.
“Watching them step out into the sunlight for the first time brought tears to my eyes. Max is this huge Siberian brown bear that had been locked in a cage at a bus depot for more than 14 years. They had to use the Jaws of Life to cut open the steel bars to get him out. Even with his huge size, he was afraid to step out because there was a puddle and he didn’t know how deep it was. It took him a while to build up the courage, but once he was out, he didn’t stop exploring his new enclosure.
“Minnie discovered the pool and splashed around,” she continued. “Max joined her in the pool and dragged a big rock in to play with. We snuck up at night to see what they were doing and Max and Minnie were peacefully cuddled up, sleeping under the stars.”
The next day, they rescued another bear.
“This bear had been kept in a small cage for five years. Before that, he was in another cage for four years,” Holyoak said. “The cage was beside a highway. He was kept for the entertainment of his owner. When we got there, the smell was horrendous. The severed heads of two goats were sitting in the cage covered with flies. The cage was never cleaned out so there was several inches of green sludge that he was forced to sit in.”
Despite concerns, the owner was happy to give up responsibility for the bear.
Bears will bite bars out of boredom and frustration “and sure enough, this bear’s canine teeth were completely broken and abscessed,” Holyoak said. “I can’t imagine the pain he was in, and he will need a root canal to repair the damage. He woke up in quarantine on a pile of clean, fluffy hay. As soon as he could stand, he immediately munched down 10 apples. Behaviorally, he is a damaged bear, but time will heal.”
The group released three other bears to an outdoor enclosure. They called them the “general bears” because they had been owned by a general before he was imprisoned.
“They are young active bears, and we thought they would run straight through the chute to their outdoor enclosure, but when we opened the door, the most dominant bear blocked the tunnel. He wanted to go out so badly, but could not work up the courage,” Holyoak said. “We put food in the tunnel to entice them out, but he would walk his front legs down the tunnel while keeping his back legs firmly planted. He looked like he was doing yoga. The other two bears had to wait for him to move out of the way and they made their way out, but ‘Mr. Gatekeeper,’ as the world refers to him now (after the release was broadcast on Facebook under internationalanimalrescue), took about two days to build up the courage. It was like they thought it was a trick.
“These bears have spent their entire lives in a small cage, so going to a huge outdoor enclosure was really overwhelming for them,” she said. “Within a few days, they were like completely different animals. Instead of pacing in an unnaturally confirmed area, they were content and confident.”
Holyoak said she has been working hard to raise money for the Great Bear Rescue campaign and was thrilled to see the project for herself.
“I feel so proud and privileged to be part of IAR’s work rescuing these magnificent brown bears. To see these animals begin to heal after such extreme suffering was really emotional,” Holyoak said. “On my last night, I sat as the sun set over the mountains and watched these bears peacefully grazing through the tall grass and digging in the dirt. Simple things that bears instinctively do, but that had been denied to them for so long. The fear was gone and they were content. We accomplished so much on this trip, but as always in the rescue world, I just keep thinking of the bears that are still suffering. There are at least 50 more bears confined to small cages, sitting in squalor. They have no idea that so many people are working really hard to rescue them. They are not forgotten and we won’t stop working until they are all free.”
Donations are needed to finish building the center. Information is at www.internationalanimalrescue.org and the project website is greatbearrescue.org.
Laurence Holyoak with the so-called general bears. [Photo for The Item]
Thomas before his rescue from his roadside cage in Armenia. [Photo for The Item]
Dasha and one of her cubs being released back into the wild. [Photo for The Item]
Dasha with one of her cubs. [Photo for The Item]
Thomas the roadside bear is tranquilized for his rescue. [Photo for the Item]
Rescuers look at Thomas’ broken canine tooth during his release from his small roadside cage in Armenia. [Photo for The Item]
Laurence Holyoak stands in front of a military truck in Armenia. [Photo for the Item]
The Bear Center in Armenia [Photo for the Item]
Dasha enjoying her freedom [Photo for The Item]