Bear to stay with ‘mom’

ISTANBUL

The legal battle over the housing of a bear, which had been the subject of a lawsuit for seven years, has finally come to an end after it was decided the animal would stay with her adopted human “mother,” daily Hürriyet has reported. 

A soldier identified as Mehmet found the bear 26 years ago during conflict in in the eastern province of Hakkari’s Yüksekova district and named her Meyvan, meaning “orphan girl” in Kurdish. He was killed during a terrorist attack and a letter was found in his pocket addressed to his mother which, which read, “My dear mother, do not cry if I died. I entrust Meyvan to you.” Meyvan was sent to the soldier’s family in Ankara, but was abandoned there. 

Since then, Meyvan has been living in Ankara with 85-year-old Hayriye Erkök in the care of the Animal Protection Association (HAYKOD). 

On the grounds Meyvan had been kept in poor conditions, the Animal Rights Federation (HAYTAP) opened a lawsuit to bring Meyvan to a rehabilitation center in the northwestern province of Bursa’s Karacabey district, but the lawsuit was rejected when it was determined the anesthesia needed to transport the bear could be life threatening because of her old age. 

HAYTAP appealed the decision and the court ordered Meyvan’s transportation to Karacabey after she emerged from hibernation. 

However, this decision was again appealed and the Plenary Session of Administrative Law Divisions made the final decision and ruled for the bear to stay in Ankara. 

Erkök said she had not stopped crying for seven years while the legal battle was ongoing and she had been reborn thanks to the decision. “The biggest pain for a mother is the decision to kill her child and the biggest happiness is to change this decision. Meyvan is too old. We fought against cancer together. This issue had been torture for years and I am very happy that it was given an end by the ultimate decision maker,” she said.