Help Rescued Endangered Bears - Cholita and Dominga

Cholita and Dominga are in need of help after being rescued from abuse!

The spectacled bear is the only bear native to South America and also one of the world's most endangered. All international trade of Spectacled bears is strictly prohibited. However, illegal trafficking and hunting pose a severe threat to their species. Snatched from the wild, two of these bears were torn from their families and the world nature intended for them. The trauma of their terrible past has taken its toll.

One of the bears, Cholita, was mutilated by a local circus—cutting off her fingers and breaking her teeth—causing her to lose all of her fur due to stress. For years there was nowhere for her to go, so she spent her days living in a zoo. In one of Animal Defenders International's (ADI) most emotional rescues ever, ADI took Cholita home to the forest.

The second bear, Dominga, was torn from the wild as a cub, along with her sister. Authorities confiscated both bears from wildlife traffickers years later, but with nowhere for Dominga and her sister to go, they were also placed in a zoo. Four years ago, her sister died, leaving Dominga alone. Like Cholita, she lost her fur due to stress. With the support of the Peruvian wildlife department SERFOR and the zoo, ADI took Dominga on a journey hundreds of miles over the Andes mountains to her new life next door to Cholita.

ADI has built a safe haven for rescued spectacled bears in the heart of their homeland. Now, Dominga and Cholita live next door to each other. A special meet-and-greet corridor links Dominga and Cholita's enclosures so that the bears can have safe contact and perhaps in the future, share their habitats. Now we need your help to provide these special bears with the food and ongoing care they need, in a safe and secure environment that is as close to nature as possible.

You can help! Just $5.00 helps care for these two rescued and endangered bears.

Animal Defenders International is a 501(c)3 non-profit whose mission is to educate, create awareness, and promote the interest of humanity in the cause of justice, and the suppression of all forms of cruelty to animals; wherever possible, to alleviate suffering, and to conserve and protect animals and their environment.