They Never Thought This Bear Would Walk Again. Until She Did.

Everyone at Animals Asia is beaming with pride on this happiest of #MoonBearMondays as moon bear Claudia once again walks on grass.

Seven months on from suffering fractures in both front limbs due to a rare condition never before diagnosed in any species of bear – Claudia is back outside in the great outdoors.

After two ground-breaking surgeries staff have removed anything which could put pressure on Claudia's still delicate limbs – even removing the swing so she would not accidentally fall off.

Claudia has been living in Animals Asia's Chengdu Bear Rescue Center since 2005 when she was rescued from a bear bile farm where she was kept in a tiny cage suffering regular bile extraction for use in traditional medicine.

Shortly after her rescue, Claudia's ravaged gall bladder was removed and she began to make a full recovery at Animals Asia's sanctuary in Chengdu, where she and 122 other bears spend their days recovering from the horrors of bear bile farming.

That was until ultra rare fractures left vets fearing she would never play outside again.

When the day finally came for Claudia to step outside after surgery and recuperation, the entire team who have eased Claudia back to health, held their breaths and hoped she wouldn't run, jump, climb and otherwise over-exert herself.

But once the door to the outside world opened - for the first time in so long - the team breathed a collective sigh of relief.

In true Claudia style, she took three steps out, sat down on the stoop and proceeded to eat the fresh green grass - for three hours straight.

After her tasty green salad buffet and an afternoon of chilling, Claudia went back to her basket inside and took a much deserved nap.

Claudia had passed the latest of many tests on the road to recovery from such major surgery and the team could afford some overdue high fives.

For the next few months, Claudia will stay on her own and radiographs will be used to recheck the state of her limbs in autumn. If all is well, Claudia will finally be reintroduced to her pals.

That will be the sweetest #MoonBearMonday of all.