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Pic from LAEO Ukraine/ Magnus News. Dasha and her sister Katia spent 24 years, all of their lives since cubs, in cages being forced to perform three times a week in a circus in Ukraine. This week they

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EXCLUSIVE: A rescued pair of twin bear sisters forced to perform in a circus all their lives have experienced a freedom for the first time in 24 YEARS. Dasha and Katia were just weeks old when they were taken from their mother and sold to a circus in Ukraine. Since then all the sisters have known is training and performing up to three shows a day. When not doing tricks like riding bicycles and jumping through hoops for a paying audience, the 400lb plus animals were kept in tiny 1.5m cages. They were behind bars just inches from one another but could never touch. But now after a quarter of a century in captivity the two bears can sleep under the stars for the first time in the stunning forest-filled Libearty (correct spelling) Bear Sanctuary, in Zarnesti, Romania. Heart-warming footage and photos taken this week show the animals rolling around in the grass with joy and being able to nuzzle and bear hug one another for the first time. The bears arrival in Romania was only made possible thanks to Lionel De Lange, from the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization (LAEO) Ukraine, and Chantal Jonkergouw and Carolyn Green, from SOS Zoo and Bear Rescue. Lionel and Chantal and their supporters raised £14,000, including donations from the UK, to rescue the animals in March and then transport, medically check and care for the them before they were released on Wednesday. Lionel de Lange, from LAEO Ukraine, said the sisters, who were originally known as Masha and Lora, had proper contact with each other for the first time. He said: “This was one the most emotional rescues we’ve done, if you can imagine it’s 24 years of these bears never having proper contact with each other, they were always in separate cages. “And when they were close to each other in the cages they had aggression, not with each other but with bars between them. They always seemed angry at one another. “But then when they let them out at Libearty they had a snuggle and a cuddle and it was just amazing to

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Bear sisters rescued after 24 years together in tiny cages - 15 Oct 2019
EXCLUSIVE: A rescued pair of twin bear sisters forced to perform in a circus all their lives have experienced a freedom for the first time in 24 YEARS. Dasha and Katia were just weeks old when they were taken from their mother and sold to a circus in Ukraine. Since then all the sisters have known is training and performing up to three shows a day. When not doing tricks like riding bicycles and jumping through hoops for a paying audience, the 400lb plus animals were kept in tiny 1.5m cages. They were behind bars just inches from one another but could never touch. But now after a quarter of a century in captivity the two bears can sleep under the stars for the first time in the stunning forest-filled Libearty (correct spelling) Bear Sanctuary, in Zarnesti, Romania. Heart-warming footage and photos taken this week show the animals rolling around in the grass with joy and being able to nuzzle and bear hug one another for the first time. The bears arrival in Romania was only made possible thanks to Lionel De Lange, from the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization (LAEO) Ukraine, and Chantal Jonkergouw and Carolyn Green, from SOS Zoo and Bear Rescue. Lionel and Chantal and their supporters raised £14,000, including donations from the UK, to rescue the animals in March and then transport, medically check and care for the them before they were released on Wednesday. Lionel de Lange, from LAEO Ukraine, said the sisters, who were originally known as Masha and Lora, had proper contact with each other for the first time. He said: “This was one the most emotional rescues we’ve done, if you can imagine it’s 24 years of these bears never having proper contact with each other, they were always in separate cages. “And when they were close to each other in the cages they had aggression, not with each other but with bars between them. They always seemed angry at one another. “But then when they let them out at Libearty they had a snuggle and a cuddle and it was just amazing to