Scarred Physically and Emotionally, Rescued Circus Bear Now Lives Her Twilight Years in Happiness

When Chada the Tien Shan bear was filmed waking up from hibernation in 2023, she became an overnight sensation, but what many don’t know is the horrible details of her tragic past. Chada may now be living her best life in the White Rock Bear Sanctuary in Ukraine. Still, there was a time when she was the subject of unimaginable cruelty, forced to perform as a circus bear until she was finally abandoned and sentenced to life in a small rusty cage in Kyiv, where she would never have survived.

Chada’s Story

In 2023,  a video of a white scruffy bear crawling out of her cave, waking from hibernation went viral. That bear was Chada, a Tien Shan bear, whose journey is a poignant reminder of the cruelty some animals face and the hope that exists through rescue and rehabilitation. Her story takes us from the wild mountains of the Western Himalayas to a life of exploitation and finally to the peace she now finds in the “White Rock” sanctuary.

Chada’s Captivity: A Life in a Circus

Chada’s lineage dates to the 1970s, when her father, Sultan, and his sister Dinara were captured to perform in a circus in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 1977, they were transferred to the Kyiv State Zoo, where they became part of the infamous “Animal Theater.” Chada was born on Christmas day in 1998 and spent 12 years as a performing bear for the Ukranian National Circus. Particularly notorious was her act, where, alongside other bears, she was made to jump between galloping horses and balance precariously on their backs. While on the surface, it looked highly entertaining to the Soviet audience it was the result of a world of cruelty, stress, and pain.

Abandonment and Neglect: The Rusty Cage in Belogorodka

After years of performing, Chada was discarded like a prop that had outlived its usefulness. She was abandoned in a small, rusty cage in an industrial area in Belogorodka, near Kyiv, Ukraine. The once-proud bear descended from wild animals of the Himalayas, spent the next seven years in this dilapidated cage, isolated and neglected.

Rescued In the Nick of Time

Fortunately, animal rights activists learned of Chada’s plight. When they found her, she was in a terrible condition; her health had deteriorated, and she was in pain. With no available spaces at rehabilitation centres then, Chada was relocated to a private zoo in the village of Vasylivka in Zaporizhia. Although her conditions improved slightly—she was fed and no longer abused—the setting was still far from what a bear of her size and stature deserved. To make matters worse, this menagerie eventually found itself in a war zone occupied by Russian troops during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Finding Peace at “White Rock” Sanctuary

Chada’s life took a turn for the better on July 16, 2019, when she was rescued by the “White Rock” Bear Sanctuary. Under the care of Dr. Maryna Shkvyria, Chief Zoologist, and project coordinator of the Save Wild organization, which runs the bear shelter, Chada finally found the love, care, and attention she had been deprived of for decades. Her eyesight had deteriorated, and she was missing eleven teeth—a testament to the harsh life she had endured.

An Amazing Recovery

Despite her physical challenges, Chada quickly became the heart of the sanctuary. Her strength and determination to survive, even after everything she had gone through, earned her the admiration of the sanctuary’s caretakers. Chada was no longer just a bear who had been rescued—she became a symbol of hope, survival, and the will to keep fighting.

A Viral Sensation

Today Chada is 27 years old. In 2023, a video of Chada waking up from hibernation and crawling out of her cave at the sanctuary made her a viral sensation. Since then, there has been a lot of interest generated in her and her tragic story. Chada is gentle and playful, living a much-needed retired life in safety with love and affection.

The Broader Tragedy: The Exploitation of Endangered Species

Chada’s personal story is deeply tied to the more significant tragedy of her species. She belongs to a critically endangered subspecies of brown bear, the Tien-Shan bear, also known as the Elizabethan bear (Horsfield, 1826). These magnificent creatures are native to the Western Himalayas and listed on the IUCN Red List, where habitat loss, poaching, exploitation, and captivity contribute to their extinction.

Chada’s story is an Inspiration for Conservation

The plight of Chada and the Tien-Shan bear speaks to the urgent need for more stringent conservation efforts to protect the remaining populations and ensure that future generations of these bears can live without fear of exploitation.

Chada’s journey from the circus to a sanctuary highlights the resilience of animals and the hope for rehabilitation. She may be missing teeth, have poor eyesight, and carry the scars of her past, but Chada’s spirit remains unbroken. And through her, we are reminded that every endangered animal has a story worth saving. Watch a video of Chada below.