The only chance at a normal life in the wild
Since 2004, the Bear Orphanage has been the only centre in Europe dedicated solely to rehabilitating orphaned bear cubs and returning them to the wild. Tucked away in the Hășmaș Mountains of Romania, the project was created to answer a simple but urgent question:
What happens to a bear cub when its mother is no longer there to protect it?
Before the project began, most orphaned cubs were condemned to captivity or shot. Yet studies showed that the skills bears need to survive in nature – foraging, denning, avoiding people – are instinctive. The mother’s main role is protection, not teaching.
The Bear Orphanage was born from that insight: if we can protect orphaned cubs without taming them, they still have a real chance to live wild.
What Success Looks Like
We don’t judge success only by how many cubs survive after release. In nature, not every bear survives – that is part of the wild system regulating its own population.
Instead, we measure success by how well our bears adapt to life in the wild:
When a bear can live an ordinary wild life – unseen most of the time, raising young of its own – the project has done its job.
