🌈 Bluebell Bear 🌈

We met her in June 2022. She was in a small outdoor enclosure with her sister, Poppy. They were fed by well-meaning neighbours that tried to keep them alive, after their main carer passed away. However, they were not let out of their enclosure, or fed the correct food. White bread and liquorice were part of their diet. When Aaron went to see Bluebell and Poppy he promised to go back and bring them home to us, where they would spend the rest of their days in peace. We prepared the housing and isolation area for them, but sadly, were notified of Poppy’s death. We didn’t’ get to her in time. We had tried to bring the rescue forward, as we were now concerned for Bluebell, but couldn’t get hold of the carers. We were devastated about Poppy, but thankfully we got to Bluebell in time. The rescue was perilous, and Aaron nearly broke his arm (has had problems with it ever since) as he stopped Bluebell from nearly falling down a ditch during the rescue.

Aaron finally got her to the sanctuary and as soon as she stepped off the trailer and I saw her, I fell in love with her and I looked at her and called her Bluebell Bear because she looked just like a grizzly bear. Her skin was taught around her body, as she was so overweight and she had skin lesions, but she was absolutely beautiful. Over the next few weeks, we put her on a strict diet, treated her skin and washed her eyes daily, trimmed her hooves and finally introduced her to the others. When she first had a mattress, she used to wet the bed and we had to change the blankets every day. We didn’t mind because we loved her so much. She chatted to us and took to us immediately. She wouldn’t drink out of her water bowl at first because where she came from the water wasn’t changed and was foul, but gradually, she started drinking the fresh water from her bowl again and stopped wetting the bed and always went outside. She quickly put Tulip (our resident diva) in his place and made friends with Charlotte Marie. She became the leader of the herd and was such a gentle, lovely leader. She lost the weight but was still treading on her belly, so I made a sling, got some braces, used bandages and even got size 28 knickers for her - lol. But nothing worked, her belly still dragged on the floor making it difficult for her to walk. She also cut it sometimes with her hooves, so we had to bathe it and we were constantly worried about infections. We asked for a referral from our local vets to Bristol University vets, so that we could send her for an assessment to see if she could have a tummy tuck. All was set for the off and she went for a full health check. All came back well and the team there agreed that they would go ahead with the tummy tuck. They had never done one before so it would be a ground-breaking operation. Time to fundraise!!!! We fundraised and managed to get half the money together, so it was booked in for  14th February 2023. We were worried as there was no guarantee that it would work, or that she would be ok, but we knew and agreed that we had to make her quality of life better than it was and if she had any chance at all of running around and being free, we had to be brave for her. I kissed her goodbye and Aaron was going to take her to Bristol and stay with her as much as he possibly could. I knew she would be ok with her dad there. On the day, we were nervous. The operation went really well and 4 student vets watched the operation. She came round fine and was so brave, an absolute star, she did so well.

The next few days at the hospital were scary, as she didn’t eat at first, but gradually she started eating and even came home a day early. The scar healed well and her body did so well with expelling fluid build-up etc. She was constantly monitored and eventually she was back to herself. She went from strength to strength and started going up to the field in the day routing with Tulip and one day when we went up the field, she was over the other side, we called her and she ran towards us. This was one of the most beautiful moments of our lives. We never dreamt that this moment would ever come and we were so proud of her. She had fought and gained her freedom and knew love to the full. She had a year of this bliss and then became ill and died suddenly in my arms in the Spring of 2024. We can heal them and love them, but we can’t undo the damage that has already been done. Bluebell Bear was the bravest, kindest, gentlest girl with a sensitive and beautiful soul. She loved to be cuddled and she loved humans, even laughing when we blew rasberries on her belly and the day she passed away, we were absolutely heart broken, but we know that she will take that love with her and have it forever.