What's good enough for Paddington...

Two beautiful beasts - once dubbed the "saddest bears in Europe" - have gone wild for marmalade, favoured by the movie and book star Paddington.

But while the mythical bear keeps his in a sandwich under his hat, Wildwood Trust's bears had to forage for theirs hidden in special toys designed to stimulate play.

This is the bears’ first ever taste of the sweet treat after being dramatically rescued by the Wildwood Trust from a life of neglect and misery last year.

Video: Wildwood's bears sample their new sweet treat

Milcho and Gosho are European brown bears which were bred to be hunted by the former Communist Party elite and then by wealthy oligarchs.

When Bulgaria joined the European Union they were forced to stop the barbaric blood sport, but it left them abandoned in a desolate concrete pit, with local people doing their best to help feed them with dried porridge.

The pair were rescued by the trust, based in Herne Bay, last November.

The special gift was given to the bears by Julian & Eileen Ellis, long term supporters of the Trust who wanted to do something special to help the bears and so donated a batch of homemade marmalade.

To the delight of the Wildwood's keepers, the bears went absolutely mad for their new food and soon a heart-warming video of them enjoying their treat was going ‘viral’ on social media.

Now the team at Wildwood have been working with the bears to restore their shattered minds and bodies.

This includes encouraging their natural curiosity and instinct to play.

In fact, it has proved so popular with the bears that it has also helped them to take their medicine, which they will now happily take from a spoon.

Peter Smith, Wildwood’s CEO, said: "We are so grateful to Julian and Eileen for their inspired gift; the stimulating effect this has had on the bears has been enormous as has been shown on social media.

"We hope that this milestone in the rehabilitation of the bears will encourage people to continue their support of our work to give them the life they so desperately need.”

This boost is a crucial step in the rehabilitation of the bears and Wildwood now needs to raise urgently-needed funds to build them a “forever home” - a huge woodland enclosure at the park where they can live as natural a life as possible.

Peter added: “Being highly intelligent and curious creatures, our bears will need a specially designed home that will allow them to learn and display their natural behaviour.

"This is especially important when you consider their terrible background.”

Wildwood is now appealing for donations to help create the bears' new enclosure.

Due to the extremely high costs of looking after animals such as bears, Wildwood has taken a staggered approach to their rescue and rehabilitation.

After raising the initial £50,000 needed to rescue the animals and build their quarantine enclosure, the Trust now needs to raise further funds to give them the happy, healthy lives they so desperately need.

To find out more about their progress you can visit www.wildwoodtrust.org. To donate you can text BEAR21 and an amount of money to 70070.

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