After more than two decades in a cage at an Albanian restaurant for diners to look at, brown bear Mark is heading towards a better life in an Austrian sanctuary.

Until now, the bear has spent his life entertaining visitors to the Sofra e Ariut (Bear's Table) restaurant in Tirana along with his sister Liza.

But on Wednesday, under heavy anesthetic, he started his journey to the Aberbasch shelter in northern Austria, thanks to the Four Paws animal welfare group.

Their rescue operation came too late for his sister, however. She died two years ago.

Both bears were brought to the restaurant as cubs two decades ago after their mother was shot dead, according to its then owners.

There, they lived in a cage of some 100 square meters, with concrete floors, in poor conditions and on an inadequate diet, Sajmir Shehu, the Four Paws project coordinator in Albania, said.

Left out in the open and at the mercy of extreme weather, the bears were never allowed to hibernate, Four Paws said.

Now Mark, at 250 kilos, is overweight and has difficulty moving. Due to boredom and stress, he has developed anxiety disorders, becoming aggressive and growling at the slightest noise.

His condition only worsened in 2020 when Liza died.

"Mark couldn't stop crying for two or three months," Hiqmet Murati, the bears' keeper for 20 years, told AFP.

Their owners even let the pair mate, but none of the cubs survived because their stressed-out parents bit them to death, he added.

As a result of his maltreatment, the bear needs emergency care to survive, Shehu said.

His poor diet and 20 years in a cage means he suffers from joint, muscle, eye, and vital organs problems, the Four Paws experts said.

Once in the sanctuary, Mark will get the veterinary care and proper food he needs "so he can recover quickly and enjoy a life worthy of a bear," Shehu said.

Four Paws says Mark is the last of Albania's so-called "restaurant bears."

The restaurant, meanwhile, will be removing the cage that held the bears — but it will keep its name.