Life blooms eternal – following the sad deaths of our bears, Irwin and Yin Yang in Chengdu, their sponsors chose to keep the original names for our two new cubs in Vietnam. 

These two little bundles of energy, Yin Yang and Irwin Jnr, have just been moved from the temporary cub-holding area into their new grown-up dens and our Bear Manager Amanda recorded the move with the lovely photos (at bottom). Sadly, it is Vet Nurse Candice Bloom’s last day today in Vietnam and we will all miss her heaps – including Ying Yang and Irwin Jnr, who saw Cands as their adoptive mum.

Cands, thank you for being a best friend of the bears and their stand-in mother too. After being stolen from their mothers – terrified, confused and lonely – they have come through a hell we could hardly comprehend and today, under the tender loving care of you and our other dedicated, adoring nurses and bear managers, they are at last happy, healthy and … unbelievably naughty. I can’t help feeling that there is a connection between their mischievous, fun-loving characters and yours! Safe travels Cands, and come back soon.

You can see Candice’s love for these little chaps in these words she wrote on their move:

As with everything, little Yin Yang and Irwin Junior took moving day in their stride. We put the moving crate into their enclosure initially to give them time to explore it properly (and test its strength!) and then with a little bit of bribery in the form of tasty fruit, both cubs went into the crate easily and coped well with their bumpy journey up to “big bear land”! 

Both cubs have their own unique characteristics, and a whole lot of personality! Irwin Junior is a tribute to his namesake; the late Steve Irwin, as he leaps between logs and swing (giving me and the other vet nurse Fiona heart attacks!) 

His favourite trick is swinging from the top bar of his swing, and then almost somersaulting off it so all you see is a little bear bum on the top of the swing before he lands on the floor looking rather surprised and pleased with himself! The first time we brought in their new little swimming pool he started doing somersaults in that too! 

Yin Ying, with his characteristic white snip on his nose, is a little chunky chap who has everything sussed! He knows when and where his food is coming, where we hide it and ever so cheekily waits for his big brother to climb up high before trying to pull him down! 

They love wrestling and playing with each other and being able to watch them grow into confident “mini” moon bears is certainly something we'll never take for granted.

These two gorgeous boys make us smile every day with their cheeky antics and have certainly stolen the hearts of all our team.