Last month, you may have heard that a very special bear called Boki had brain surgery.  Boki lives at the Wildwood Trust in Kent, and poor Boki had been suffering from seizures.  So during the summer, Boki went off to Fitzpatrick Referrals (yes, Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick’s Referrals) for an MRI and it was decided the best thing was for him to have surgery. 

This weekend, the Trust is celebrating 10 years of bears at Wildwood!   This Friday, Saturday and Sunday there’s a daily bear talk at 12:00 with a draw raffle, too – one lucky family will win and exclusive tour of the bear enclosure and win a Boki foot print, taken during his surgery in October!

The Trust provides a safe, loving home for bears who really need a second chance at life.   Many bears are kept in private collections, or bred for hunting, or caged and farm, or forced to perform in circuses.  Find out about their Brown Bear Rescue work here.

So the Wildwood Trust have made a home for these bears where they can be safe from the trauma they’ve suffered.  They can become bears again.  You can donate to their care and help the Trust – it costs £175,000 a year.

So the bears are brothers Scruff and Fluff, who arrived in November 2014, and who had been in a bear-hunting centre in Bulgaria.  They came the 1,600 miles by truck and ferry.  They settled into torpor for the first time in 2017 which shows they felt safe at Wildwood.

Mish and Lucy in Devon began their story in the snow Albanian mountains – they had been surrounded by their mother and were surrounded by predators.  They were rescued and made their way to Kent for a short stay there before moving to their forever home in Devon.  

Diego came from Sweden’s Orsa Predator Park which shut in November 2022.  Wildwood stepped in to save him from being put to sleep.   Diego arrived right in the middle of Storm Ciaran in November 2023 and due to the weather, at the last moment he was transferred to the Eurotunnel.  He had his own carriage, and arrived at 8pm, tired and sleepy, in the dark of night and with torrential rain and winds.  Diego stayed in a warm, dry enclosure and soon earned the title of gentle giant.  He had the winter in Kent and then moved to Jimmy’s Farm and Wildlife Park in Ipswich in April 2024.  Here, he’s got a woodland enclosure.

And then Boki!   He was rejected by his mum at 10 weeks old and he came to Wildwood, where he needed a home and a family who could show him how to be a bear.  Fluff and Scruff took on the role and Boki became a playful younger brother to them.   Unfortunately, Boki fell in this year and specialist wildlife surgeon Romain Pizzi undertook the surgery, supported by the veterinary team.  Boki is doing well, and the Trust say he is well enough to welcome visitors this weekend!

You can support the work the Wildwood Trust is doing for bear rescue and rehabilitation by donating here.   Why not become a member or adopt a bear? 

The Trust has introduced European Bison to Kent, the aim being to restore 600 hectares of ancient woodland.  It’s helping the European beaver return to Britain;  this is part of a fenland restoration project.  And last year, it released the first group Red-billed Chough to the Dover skies – this is the first time that the chough has been wild in Kent for over 200 years!  Red squirrels, water voles and dormice have all been bred and reintroduced, and the Trust is working towards the reintroduction of wildcats and pine martins. 

With parks in Kent and Devon, it is a very exciting conservation charity and you can visit these parks – it’s a great way to find out more about them.

For instance, there’s over 200 British species in Kent, including bears, wolves, otters and arctic foxes.  It’s a great chance to connect with wildlife in their natural habitats.

If only every bear could live freely in the wild!  But many are kept in private collections, or caged, or farmed, or bred to hunt or made to perform.  The Wildwood Trust is committed to giving bears a second chance of life:  they've build a home for them so that they can be safe and recover from their earlier terrible experiences, and start to heal.  They have a woodland haven to rediscover what it's like to be a bear.   

As you can imagine, this does not happen cheaply and it costs the Wildwood Trust £175,000 every year to care for these beautiful bears.   Food, medication, enrichment, improving the bears' welfare - you can help by donating here!

The Wildwood Trust explained that Fitzpatrick Referrals were incredible in looking after Boki.  He became the first bear in the UK to have an MRI, which showed that poor Boki was suffering from fluid on the brain – hydrocephalus - which puts pressure on the brain. 

Enter Romain Pizzi, who’d done surgery on an Asiatic black bear in Laos, who had the same condition.  Romain Pizzi kindly offered to help, and it was agreed that the best chance for Boki to have a healthy, good life was to have surgery.   The operation will drain fluid from Boki's skull, by running a tube from the inside of his brain to his bladder.  Excess fluid can drain from there, and this should stop the seizures poor Boki has been having.   

Bless you Boki, and huge thanks to everyone involved and those taking care of this very special bear.   Watch the Wildwood Trust for updates! 

Images above copyright Wildwood Trust.