A polar bear has finally found its own world.
For twelve years, it was confined in an iron cage at a Russian circus. Surrounded by cold iron bars and hard concrete, it had never seen real snow.
Later, a rescue organization took it in.
Its new home boasts twenty acres of open space, a lake where it can swim freely, and real earth and wind.
But what surprised everyone was that what it cherished most was a blue rubber ball.
Staff said that when it first arrived, it was wary of everything, cowering in a corner at the slightest sound. Only when it held the ball would its breathing gradually calm down.
It would clutch the ball tightly to its chest with its two large paws, rest its chin gently on it, and close its eyes.
Twelve years in an iron cage, twenty acres of freedom, and a red ball.
The ball is worthless. But for it, it may be the first thing in its life that truly belonged to it.