Free at last: Bear rescued after a decade inside cramped, filthy concrete pen

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After 10 years living in a cramped cage inside a Maryland zoo, Lily the bear is walking and roaming free in an animal sanctuary in Colorado after the animal's rescue.

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Lily was inside the Deer Haven Mini Zoo in Maryland after being transferred from the Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia as a cub. The roadside zoo kept the Asian black bear in tight quarters inside a concrete pen that was too small for her body.

She would live around her own feces and eventually became morbidly obese due to lack of exercise. After a PETA campaign caught the attention of animal rights activists, an online petition urged the zoo to release Lily.

Read: Pregnant Zookeeper Compares Growing Baby Bump to Different Exotic Animals at Her Zoo

Once they did, on November 3, Lily was transferred to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado where she can now run around, swim, and explore.

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