BHOOP SINGH, came to us on 28.01.03, a 14 year old male weighing 90 kg initially but 125 kg today. Bhoop Singh is named after a comic character common to puppet shows in rural areas but the name does not do this solemn and simple bear justice. Bhoop Singh was a very insecure bear whose owners sold him again and again. He changed so many hands and owners he did not have faith that this would be his permanent home. So Bhoop Singh would not leave his den or play with his keepers or use the pond and platforms in his enclosure. Everyday the keepers would try to tempt him out by putting his favorite fruits- papayas, pomegranates, and water melon slices in a row leading to the pond or the trees. But Bhoop Singh viewed all this with suspicion. One morning when they entered the enclosure, to their pleasant surprise, Bhoop Singh was sitting on top of a platform, gazing out over the trees. He had climbed a platform and everyone felt as if Bhoop Singh had at last admitted to them that he now knew he was home.

Since then Bhoop Singh participates in all the activities- swimming in the pond, wrestling with other bears. But climbing the wooden platform at night, and sleeping there often, is still his favorite hobby.
He has very strong friendships with Mangi, Meena, Chhotu and Butterball. He has taken an equally strong dislike to Rani, the matriarch of this section being our very first bear on the rescue facility, and two younger male bears. But luckily they do not fight and only keep their distance from each other. Bhoop Singh relishes his wheat porridge with milk, fruits, honey and eggs. But he finds it difficult to chew the rotis, having lost his canines long ago and his molars being ground down. He is the only bear who does not eat the same fruits twice in a row, so the keeper has to make sure he doesn't repeat his fruits the next day. He suddenly decides its only milk for him and sometimes porridge and milk. His keepers are now getting used to Bhoop Singh's eccentricities and always keep enough spare food at hand to create the variety. Like all our bears he is vaccinated against rabies and leptospirosis and he is free from internal and external parasites.

These three old bears have all suffered the indignities of having many holes driven through their muzzle; the pain of pus and infected wounds; the fatigue of walking through seasons of great heat and cold often without adequate nourishment. Yet, none of them bear any grudge against humans, still welcome us with affection, and play with us when we enter their enclosures. For all of us at the ABRF, these Old Bears are examples of patience, endurance and forgiveness that we would like to emulate; till the time they are with us, we will give them respect, care and love.