The maintenance man continued to (intermittently) bring the bears pizza, chocolate doughnuts, chocolate candy bars and 5-gallon buckets of potato chips and put it in through the chute, although their swimming pool (also serving as drinking water) and their enclosure were never cleaned. They continued to live with no veterinary care, clean water or enrichment, in the filthy enclosure for another three years.  Local townsfolk discovered the bears and were also periodically stopping in and sliding honey-covered pancakes and sweets to the bears over the years.  We couldn't believe they were still alive!

The County foreclosed on the property for unpaid taxes, and realtors were contracted to auction the property off in October 2004.  The property could not be shown or sold until the bears were gone, if they were not relocated they would be put down. The Federal and  New York State governing agencies had no interest in rescuing them, telling the county to have them put down.  The auctioneers took over, they made over 100 telephone calls to wildlife rehabilitators, trying to find a home for the bears.  They wound up speaking with a Broward County Florida Sheriffs Office Lieutenant (and animal activist)  the Lieutenant in turn contacted the American Sanctuary Association, who referred her to us.  

Meanwhile, the auctioneers were feeding the bears dog food and fresh fruit on a daily basis, increasing the odds that their bodies would be capable of withstanding the stress of relocation.  Over the few weeks it took to make plans, they steadily gained weight.

We planned the bear rescue for several weeks and were scheduled to fly to NY less than 36 hours after being directly hit by the third hurricane this season.  What poor timing! Of course, our flight had been cancelled, but we managed to fly on standby and still arrived in time to meet the professional animal hauler at the closed attraction to help load the animals and prepare them for their trip. (click here for hurricane damage update).

They arrived safely in Florida via professional air-conditioned truck on September 30, 2004 .  

We hope to introduce Yogi, our other black bear, around the end of October, once they are through quarantine and their initial veterinary exams.  We will spay them after they have had time to adjust.

Molly and Dolly will live at our sanctuary for the rest of their lives.  We hope they are compatible with our current (neutered) black bear, Yogi.  Our sanctuary has a beautiful 2/3-acre enclosure that WSPA helped us construct, complete with dozens of trees, rocks and logs, a tire swing, two huge dens and a swimming  pool. 

We (of course) need donations to provide them with lifetime care, we will spend over $125,000 directly on Dolly and Molly alone for simply food and monthly supplements (not counting vet bills and overhead) if they live to be 30.  They could live longer than that.

The Molly and Dolly Fan Club Update!

The bears even have their own fan club in the form of support from the children of Mrs. LaTorra & Mrs. VonBargen's third grade class in Plattsburgh, New York. Education is one of our top priorities at the sanctuary and we are glad to see the younger generation getting involved. To view their wonderful drawings click on the pictures below to make them bigger. 

Recently the class submitted a $100 donation for the bears Molly and Dolly. The kids were challenged for the last two weeks of school to collect pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters as a fundraising idea.

Thank you to all the students for raising this donation!!!

Click on the art work pictures below to make them bigger.