Rescued "Breeding" Bear Finally Gets To Raise Her Own Cubs

A black bear named Ursula is finally getting to raise her cubs -- a right she had been denied repeatedly for her entire life.

Four months ago, she and sixteen other bears were rescued from the barren, concrete pits of a "bear park" in Georgia where they were being kept as attractions for entertainment, forced to beg for food from guests as they paced in their stark enclosures. Time and time again, Ursula was made to breed at the park, only to be separated from her offspring immediately after each new one was born.

But that all changed earlier this year. In January, at the urging of PETA and the Atlanta Humane Society, the bears' former owner at the touristic Black Bear Forest Park voluntarily surrendered the animals, which were then sent to live on the sprawling grounds of a sanctuary in Colorado.

It was the first time the bears had stepped foot on grass or moved freely in a more natural setting.

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Not long after arriving to her new home, Ursula, who was pregnant at the time, entered the privacy of her den to wait out the winter and to give birth to two cubs -- only now her small offspring would remain by her side.

Earlier this week, the new mother and her babies emerged from hibernation. For the first time, cameras near her den captured the scene of the new family together, with no one to come between them.

It has been a long road for Ursula and the other bears rescued from the tourist park, but with the help of dedicated animal welfare groups, the road stretching out ahead for this next generation will be much softer.

"They will never know life in a barren concrete pit," says PETA.

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