Recently, six Syrian brown bears were reportedly rescued - some of them from people's homes, and were taken to their new home in the Gara mountains in northern Iraq, reported Reuters.
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Locals flooded the scene in large crowds with security people and camerapersons surrounding the steels cages in which the bears were kept. However, after the cages were opened and the bears were let out in the open, the animals charged towards the crowd.?
Terrified and running for their lives, the spot quickly turned into a chaotic one and the ceremony was doomed. It wasn't immediately evident if anyone in the crowd suffered any injuries or not. Photos captured from the scene show the bears running towards the people as the latter run for away from them.?
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There are also photos of people feeding fish to the bears before releasing them.?
The whole rescue and release ceremony was part of a scheme to save the almost extinct species from its natural habitat by the American-Kurdish Association. This was the third release by the association in the past few years.?
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The head of the organisation, Blend Prevkani, told Shafaq News agency: "The bears were brought from areas in southern Iraq. Some of them were bought, while the others were given to us by their owners."
Animal rights activists were also present at the scene to release the bears into the wild after rescuing them from captivity.?
Reports suggest that the bears eventually wandered off into the snow near Duhok - in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq close to the border with Turkey.