A judge just signed a permanent injunction that allows Ben the Bear—who for six years had been confined to a barren concrete cage at Fayetteville, North Carolina-based roadside zoo Jambbas Ranch Tours—to reside permanently at the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) sanctuary in California.

At PAWS, Ben is thriving in a large natural habitat—one that is measured in acres, not feet and inches—where he bathes in his own pool, rubs his back on trees, and sleeps in a large straw nest under oak trees.