A dentist who helps rescued animals in his spare time has been nicknamed Bear Drills after a double root canal op on a 39-stone beast.
Norman, a 20-year-old Syrian brown bear, was saved from a former businessman's abandoned zoo by International Animal Rescue.
Found with five others in filthy conditions, his teeth were smashed to pieces after he tried to gnaw his way out of his 12ft by 12ft cage.
But he now happily chews on his favourite snack of apricots after Paul Cassar completed the five-hour dental surgery in Armenia.
Paul, from Chichester, West Sussex, who only practises on humans in the UK, said: “Norman really was a desperate case and so we knew we had to act quickly.
“When bears like Norman are in cages they damage their teeth trying to get out. Once they break, the nerves become exposed and they will die.”
The 62-year-old has also treated two lions, a gorilla, 200 rescued dancing bears in India, a hyena and six tigers as well as slow lorises – a small primate native to south-east Asia.
IAR saved Norman as part of its Great Bear Rescue project in Armenia.
The charity’s Lis Key said of Paul’s new nickname, a pun on TV adventurer Bear Grylls: “The job can be a dangerous one – to volunteer to do this work is quite extraordinary.”
IAR has saved 628 dancing bears in India and 35 in Armenia, but knows of 50 more in need of aid.
