Staff at the Five Sisters Zoo at West Calder have said a sad goodbye to beloved brown bear Carmen, who passed away last week.
Carmen arrived at the zoo back in 2012. She and her two sisters Peggy and Suzy had spent most of their lives in a travelling circus until they were rescued by a Belgian rescue centre in early 2011.
However the centre could not offer the three bears a permanent home, so the Five sisters Zoo stepped up with a solution, plans were made, fundraising began and Carmen, Suzy and Peggy arrived at the zoo.
Adele Copeland from the zoo said: “Carmen always had a slight limp since she arrived at the zoo from her previous cruel life, but recently her underlying spinal condition unfortunately deteriorated and despite our best efforts and treatment since she awoke from hibernation, she was no longer coping and we had to make the heart-breaking decision to let her go and be free from pain.
“She reached the remarkable age of 36 years old but spent 28 years of her years cruelly chained and muzzled as a circus bear.
“Watching her cheeky face as she feasted on her favourite foods in her beautiful woodland home or playing in her pond, one would never have guessed how horrible and tragic her previous life was.
“We take great consolation in knowing that she lived out her latter years being a very happy and well-loved bear.
“We are all going to miss her so much here at the zoo.”
Since it opened the zoo has been dedicated to helping animals in need and as the zoo has grown, so has its rescue projects.
Along with Carmen and her sisters, the zoo has also become home to four ex-circus lions and two young brown bears who were rescued from a small cage at a roadside hotel and restaurant in Albania.
