When all hope seems lost...

The health checks continue and our fears mount that we may have to say goodbye to even more of the 28 bears that came home to us on Monday night. It's difficult to put into words how we're all feeling, but I guess I don't have to. I'm sure you already know.

But there's one thing that keeps us smiling, however briefly - the sight of our lovable residents busily playing away in their enclosures. They remind us daily not to give up.

When Mafi first came to us, she was wracked with anxiety. Stereotypic, she rocked back and forth in her cage, leaving the vet team to prescribe sedative-laced fruit smoothies to give her poor tormented mind some relief.

Today, this gorgeous bear is one of the clowns of the sanctuary, never missing an opportunity for mischief - especially when she has an audience! Her favourite pastime is hanging out on "her" swing, just lapping up the freedom she was denied for so long. 

Mafi, whose name means "forgiveness" in Hindi, has refused to let her dark past cloud her days in the sun.