Meet Maddie, Our Black Bear

Maddie was 360 pounds and approximately 12 years old when she arrived at Lions Tigers and Bears in July 2013, after being transported from Covington, Ohio, by the Lions Tigers & Bears Rescue Team.

Maddie was originally bought as a family pet and was going to be sold for less than $200 to a canned-hunting ranch before a friend stepped in to save her. Even though the friend, Kim, saved Maddie from sure death, she was kept in a 20-foot by 20-foot double corn crib. She was fed a poor diet and never had space to run or play.

When Ohio passed SB 310 - the Ohio Dangerous Wild Animals Act, a law regulating the possession of exotic animals, the requirements of the law were too difficult and expensive for Kim to continue keeping Maddie, and she contacted Lions Tigers & Bears in hopes of finding Maddie a new and better home.

So the Lions Tigers & Bears Rescue Team set out cross country, and, after relocating eight other Ohio bears to sanctuaries in South Dakota, Colorado and Texas, brought Maddie back to California to live out the rest of her life at Lions Tigers and Bears in a beautiful five-acre habitat with a pool, grass, rolling hills, and lots of natural features. She is now being fed a healthy diet fit for a bear and getting the care and attention she always deserved.