Last 'dancing bears' in Bulgaria rescued from torment

By Elena Lalova Jun 23, 2007, 14:24 GMT

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 kilometres south-east of Sofia, to join 20 other brown bears rescued earlier.

The latest additions to the liberated pack were bought from their owners, Roma families from Rasgrad in north-eastern 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 excrutiating 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 12-hectares 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 EU along with neighbouring Romania on January 1, 2007.

'This is the greatest day for Four Paws,' says Tsvetelina Ivanova of the organization's Bulgaria branch, happy despite a gruelling cross-country ride with the bears in a veterinary ambulance.

The Vienna-based Four Paws (www.vierpfoten.org), launched in 1988 and with animal-rights operations in 10 countries, has been financing the rescue of the dancing bears in Bulgaria since 2000.

Together with Brigitte Bardot's animal-protection organization, Four Paws have bought all of the 23 bears from their owners, paying up to 15,000 leva (10,200 dollars) 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 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 excrutiating 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 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.