Woman Sees Bear Years After Saving It: 'It Was Emotional'

KEENESBURG, Colo. (CBS4) — For the first time in years, a woman was reunited with the bear she helped rescue. Kelly Bennett, a resident of Pennsylvania, flew to Colorado to visit "Ricki" the bear on Monday.

Bennett told CBS4's Dillon Thomas she first saw the bear years ago at an ice cream shop on the side of a road in Pennsylvania. Ricki was used to draw in tourists.

The bear lived in a small enclosure with cement flooring. Ricki was walking with a limp, as it developed arthritis as a result of walking for 16 years on the cement floors.

Tourists fed the bear a mixture of dog food and corn, known to be an unhealthy diet for bears, by paying for the food out of a gum-ball machine.

"With each passing day, week, month, she was just getting worse," Bennett said.

She contacted the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and two years later the bear was turned over to an animal sanctuary in Colorado.

"This is probably the best I could ever ask for, or hope for," Bennett said. "It's my understanding was that she never truly hibernated."

The bear spent the last four years in Kennesburg at the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Monday, Bennett visited the sanctuary for the first time. She hasn't seen Ricki since the bear was taken from the ice cream shop years ago.

"The first thing I noticed was that she looked incredible and she wasn't limping," Bennett said. "She was just at peace. It was emotional."

Bennett hoped the success story would encourage others to speak up and help the animals that can't advocate for themselves.

"I don't think that the suffering of another living thing for our entertainment is worth it," Bennett said. "If you see something that looks wrong, don't assume that somebody else is already taking care of it."