AR-News: (TX) Bears seized in drug raid headed for Texas

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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2182372


Associated Press 
ARLINGTON, Wash. - Two black bears that were seized in a marijuana arrest at 
the Canadian border are bound for a wildlife sanctuary in Texas. 
Corky and Pumpkin are set to leave the Sarvey Wildlife Center on Wednesday to 
join more than 600 creatures at the nonprofit Wild Animal Orphanage in San 
Antonio, officials at Sarvey said. 
"When we walk back to the pens after they're gone, it will be like our best 
friends left. We'll miss them," Sarvey volunteer Jeff Guidry said. "Everybody 
loves these bears." 
The 7-year-old sows were sent to the wildlife center near this Snohomish 
County town after U.S. Customs agents found 166 pounds of marijuana worth nearly 
$500,000 in a trailer carrying the bears at the border crossing in Blaine on 
Jan. 27. 
Duane Christopher Bradley of Abbotsford, British Columbia, pleaded guilty in 
July to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in 
prison. 
He initially told investigators he was taking the bears to Hollywood for a 
movie, than said he was taking the pot to Los Angeles to exchange for cash and 
cocaine to take back to Canada, according to documents filed in U.S. District 
Court. 
When seized, the bears weighed 300 to 400 pounds, rather than the normal 200 
to 300, because they had been fed whole turkeys. They couldn't climb, their 
teeth and claws were broken and they rarely ventured outside their den at 
Sarvey. 
Now, after being switched to a diet of fruits, vegetables, berries and 
breads, each has lost more than 100 pounds. Both have shiny coats and are energetic 
and playful, Guidry said. 
Officials believe both were raised by an animal dealer and are too accustomed 
to humans to be released into the wild. 
The Texas sanctuary was chosen partly to keep the two bears together, Guidry 
said. 
"Our biggest fear was that they would be sent back where they came from. We 
were very excited to hear that they were going to the best place we can send 
them," he said. 
"They went through the abuse together and are bonded to each other," he said. 
"When something is happening to one, the other gets very upset and tries to 
defend. They're absolutely inseparable." 




It can truly be said:  Men are the devils of the earth, and the animals are 
the tormented souls. --Arthur Schopenhauer 
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