On June 19 former Lithuanian circus bear Vipas was transported to the sanctuary Gnadenhof für Bären in Germany. A couple of days later he played in water for the very first time in his life! And he enjoyed it very much! He will be welcomed by his new bear friends. First of all we would like to thank everyone involved, in Lithuania, Italy and Germany, for bringing this bear ‘home’. Especially Brigita Kymantaitė from Animal Rights Protection Lithuania and Laura Janulaitiene from the Lithuanian Ministry of ENVI who have worked tirelessly to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, a shadow is cast over this rescue operation, as the second circus bear, female Kvina went missing at the end of May. It is still unclear what happened to her, but we fear the worst. The former owner of the bears has not opened up about her disappearance, but it is believed he killed her and burried the corpse. An investigation is still ongoing. We hope to bring more news about the plans to establish a bear sanctuary in Lithuania soon.