Tanie growls in her cage, she has what it takes. Early this Wednesday morning, April 17, just before 7 a.m., the keepers of the Tanière zoo-refuge in Nogent-le-Phaye (Eure-et-Loir), near Chartres, brought her out of her torpor to sedate her. using a hypodermic launcher. A sting like a lightning bolt for the young 14-month-old bear, clinging to the fence of the enclosure in which she has been growing up sheltered from humans for almost eleven months.
This baby brown bear arrived from Latvia on May 26, 2023, in Eure-et-Loir. His mother had probably been killed by poachers. “If we hadn't intervened a year ago, she would have died,” recalls Patrick Violas, the owner of the sanctuary. The dark-haired bear was only supposed to stay near Chartres for a few months. A rehabilitation protocol has been put in place. His enclosure was sealed, the food was placed there at never the same times, and foliage and branches arranged the place.
Her friend Lugo leaves with her
“Her enclosure was not designed to keep her this long, it’s too small. It was time for her to leave,” admits Sébastien Muller, the zoological director. As proof, Tanie shredded numerous elements of her temporary accommodation. The bear is wild, even potentially dangerous, confides the director when it is time to “arrow” the animal. “If unfortunately she charges us and grabs our leg, we won't have any more. It's extremely powerful! » warns the specialist, rifle in hand.
A first dose of sedative is administered to her, but the little 55 kg Latvian resists. Unlike her fellow bear Lugo, an 8-year-old male weighing 315 kg who accompanies her to Switzerland, the young bear does not fall asleep, a necessary step to put her in a cage before transporting her by truck to the mountains of the Jura Vaudois . “It’s the difference between a captive bear and a wild bear. They received the same dose, yet we will have to dose it again. Muscularly and psychologically, she is much stronger. For her everything is predation. By resisting the products, it seeks to survive,” notes Sébastien Muller.
A second arrow is launched: “This time, I guarantee you that she will sleep,” laughs the director. Yet Tanie is still awake when the team carries her to her cage on the stretcher. In her crate, the bear is once again on her four legs, and makes her disagreement heard.
At 9:15 a.m., the convoy carrying the two bears leaves La Tanière. “It’s the end of a huge adventure. These two animals will forever mark the zoo-refuge. But it is the most beautiful page that is being written because our colleagues will have two animals for whom all the tragic past is behind them. »
Direction Switzerland, a six-hour journey, before being released in the middle of the fir forest of Juraparc. “It’s a very small park, they will almost find the natural environment,” promises Patrick Violas who would have dreamed of releasing Tanie into the great outdoors. “Latvia no longer wanted them and in France, the bear is not always welcome,” notes bitterly the owner of the La Tanière zoo-refuge.