June 24, 2007
Last of 'Dancing Bears' in Bulgaria
Rescued from Torment
Belitsa
(Bulgaria)
The sight of tormented bears, forced to "dance" in Bulgaria's
capital Sofia and in Black Sea resorts, has finally been swept into
the past in the entire European Union.
The last three known "dancing bears" in Bulgaria were recently
bought from their owners and released into the Belitsa nature
reservation, 180 km southeast of Sofia, to join 20 other brown bears
rescued earlier.
The latest additions to the liberated pack were bought from their
owners, gypsy families from Rasgrad in northeastern Bulgaria who had
been dragging them through crowds and forcing them to prance.
The "dance" is actually a result of torturous conditioning of cubs
and the bear's effort to avoid excruciating pain, inflicted by its
handler via a pole attached to a ring through its sensitive snout.
Appalled, people would often pay the gypsies just to lead away the
bears with their tattered, bleeding snouts and mostly toothless
gums.
With Svetla, Misha and Mima now safely roaming the 30-acre park,
there is not a single registered dancing bear in the EU.
Unlike before, "recruiting" new bears is now banned and severely
punishable in Bulgaria, which joined the European Union along with
neighbouring Romania on Jan 1, 2007.
"This is the greatest day for Four Paws," says Tsvetelina Ivanova of
the organisation's Bulgaria branch, happy despite a gruelling
cross-country ride with the bears in a veterinary ambulance.
Established in 1988, the Vienna-based Four Paws runs animal-rights
operations in 10 countries and has been financing the rescue of the
dancing bears in Bulgaria since 2000.
Together with Brigitte Bardot's animal-protection organization, Four
Paws has bought all of the 23 bears from their owners, paying up to
15,000 leva ($10,200) for each.
Now, though badly scarred and sometimes still reacting to threats
with a prancing "dance", the bears can at least live out the
remainder of their lives in peace.
"They were badly abused already as cubs," says Belitsa nature
conservation spokesman Petar Milanov.
Their "dance" is a result of brutal conditioning, which started when
they were forced onto a hot metal plate to the sound of music played
by their "trainer".
The dictating rod and ring were added for safer control over the
large animal, but still the bears' fangs were also pulled out and
they were routinely sedated with alcohol.
Expecting burning under its paws and hoping to avoid the
excruciating pain of a tug via the ring in its nose, the bear would
stand up and hop as soon as it heard the familiar music.
The effects of the torture will remain for life - though she has
been free at Belitsa for years, the now 17-year-old former dancing
bear Elena still occasionally prances when startled by something.
Back in their natural habitat after growing up in captivity, the
bears must be fed. Each day the pack consumes hundreds of kilos of
fruit and vegetables: apples, pears, cherries, cucumbers, tomatoes
and carrots, with bread, nuts and honey as dessert.
Four Paws spends roughly 400 leva ($275) each month on the care of
each of the 23 bears - obviously much more than their previous
owners did, who mainly kept them on a diet of bread and sweets,
which destroyed their remaining teeth.
Misha, a 19-year-old male who was one of the last three to arrive in
Belitsa, had to have the pitiful stumps of his teeth removed.
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Belitsa
(Bulgaria)