In the spring of 1951 a hunter shoot and kill a bear in North-Karelia in Finland. Localizing the lair, two cubs are found. They will be named Pekka and Liisa. They were taken to a local teacher, fed and got used to be close to humans. Laterthey were sent to Helsinki, and 7 months old they arrived in Norway, with proprietor Treschow at Fritzøehus by Larvik. The plan was to release the bears in the Skrim area. In the end of october 1951 they were transported into the forest, but a good week later they arrived at a farm in the area. Trough the winter 1951-52 they hiberniated in the Skrim area, but when they woke up next spring, they soon managed to find their way back to an environment populeted with humans.
Treschow now got in touch with the author Mikjel Fønhus in Bagn and Edvard Elsrud in Hedalen in Valdres. They decided to bring the bears to the Vassfaret area, where bears had roamed around hundreds of yeras earlyer in time, and in May 1952 the bears arrived in Valdres. - But the bears wanted human company, and a few weeks later Liisa came to the farm Fosholm north in Ådalen while Pekka arrived at Granheim Busstation in Begnadalen (but without money to buy the busticket).
At this time, Knut Nystuen, the owner of the old travelstation (Skysstasjon). Now the bears got a ride on a lorrey north trough the whole Valdres valley. A lot of people waited along the road to get a glimpse of this special transport.
The two bears now had acquired national fame. Liisa managed to escape, and went trough the mountains all the way to Espedalen in Gausdal, where she was captured and brought back to Nystogo. In the end og 1953 a new "Bears Yard" was bulit, with walls of solid concrete. - In the spring of 1958 Liisa had twin cobs, named Ola and Knut.The cubs were taken to the Geiteryggen area in the vicinity of Skien in Telemark. What happened to them later is not known...
In the spring of 1962 Pekka managed to escape just after coming out of hiberniation. It was a hard desicion to come, but it ended with Pekka falling victim to a well placed bullet. Today you still can watch the stuffed Pekka at Nystuen. Some days after Pekkas death Liisa awoke from the wintersleep, together with a new generation, whose name became smallPekka.
In the spring 1969 Liisa managed once more to escape. She met some tourists on skies, and gave one of them a 'friendly' claps on the shoulder. Unfortunately the claps gave the tourist some damage, and her destiny was decided - .
Then the adventure of the bears in Nystogo in Vang had come to its end, - a unique epoque in the tourist history of Valdres. The bears in Nystogo were well known all over Norway, and they were a mtourist magnet of the area. But the history of the bears still live !

The excerpt of the webpage by Ola Helge - who also as a small boy had the opportunity to watch the bears.....