Cristi was born in 1981 and caught from the wild as a cub. He was kept in a cage behind a restaurant in the town of Poiana Brasov, together with another bear Lydia, where they were used as an attraction for people visiting the restaurant. Cristi lived in those poor conditions for over 20 years before being rescued and brought to the bear sanctuary in August 2005.
Lydia was born in 1991. Together with Cristi, she endured a life of captivity in the cage behind the restaurant. She was not given much food and had no shelter from the hot weather or very cold winters.
In 2005, just as the bear sanctuary was being built, the restaurant was demolished to make way for new buildings, and an emergency rescue had to be undertaken to rescue Lydia and Cristi. At the bear sanctuary, Cristi and Lydia were given a small 1 hectare forest enclosure with their own fresh water pool and a hibernation den, in which they both slept together during the winter. Cristi and Lydia were both moved to the large forest enclosure in April 2008 where they could mix with other bears for the first time in their lives. Cristi is often seen sitting in the pool playing with sticks, and Lydia still spends much of her time near to Cristi.
