BRIGITTE BARDOT FOUNDATION for the welfare and protection of animals

2007 :
Last 3 dancing bears are free

The end of suffering

We were in numerous company on the early morning of June 15 to welcome Misho (8 years), Svetla (17 years), and Mima (8 years) into the arms of their new guardian in Rasgard, a small locality in the northwest of Bulgaria. These three poor creatures, who had been fed bread, corn and Schnaps were in a lamentable state of malnutrition, especially Misha was suffering from diabetes (we were all surprised !) and whose fur was in terrible condition.

Now we must wait for the complete veterinary exam to discover the other aftereffects (in this case skin infections, etc.) not detectables in the first glance.

Imagine the joy of being present at this liberation, for these bears had as yet never known the natural environment that they were about to discover. Since infancy, the only lives they had ever known were marked by cruelty and oppression at the hands of their human "masters" who touted as entertainment the suffering of innocent creatures.

IF YOU DON'T SEE PHOTOS CLIK HERE >>>>>>>>>>

Today they join the dozens of companions who are waiting for them in the Belitsa Park, which the Fondation Brigitte Bardot finances with the Austrian association Vier Pfoten until the bears' deaths.

For the first time, they can lead a bear's life : hibernating, bathe together or separately at their whim, play and hunt for the well-hidden food distributed by the personnel charged with their care, scratch at the ground and pace their "den," or go to the refuge in the forest to spend some time alone.

Of course the aftermath of their mistreatment and deprivation of liberty will take time to erase, but when we see Violetta, a bear with a particularly sad history, romping around in the park with luminous fur, clean skin and skin, and a robust figure, it puts hope in our hearts. Violetta was liberated in 2003 from a tree to which she was attached by a meter-long chain, trembling with cold and sitting in excrement with only frozen water with bread and corn to eat; we anticipate the same successful recovery for the three newest bears.
The next thought that comes to mind is those who have not yet had this chance, like the 800 dancing bears in India, plus those in Pakistan and the Ukraine. It is always difficult to upkeep the celebratory spirit for too long when it comes to animal protection, but thanks to our financial support, we can enjoy these victories.

Watch this news clip from Reuters

http://www.reuters.com
(01:26) Report Jun 18, 2007
Last waltz for dancing bears

Belitsa Dancing bears Sanctuary

A welcoming land for Bulgarian dancing bears.

Who would have thought, five years ago, that the small town of Belitsa, in the middle of nowhere, South of the Mount Rila and located 180 km from Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, would become the meeting point, for one day, of a huge number of personalities such as the Bulgarian Prime Minister, His Excellency Siméon de Saxe Cobourg-Gotha and his wife, Margarita Acebo, passionate animal protector…

The object of this gathering on the 5th June was the opening of the “dancing” bear sanctuary achieved and co-financed by the Austrian association “Vier Pfoten” and the Fondation Brigitte Bardot. This is it! This sanctuary that we have regularly talked to you about through our Info-Journal and of which the expansion has needed about two years work, is finished and ready to give a well-deserved and tranquil retirement to the 25 “dancing” bears officially registered in Bulgaria.

A well-deserved retirement

To this day, 14 of them have been taken away from the hands of the torturers and benefit from the attention and care of the 10 caretakers of the sanctuary. However, we must give a tribute to Stanca (Info-Journal n°38), today, she doesn’t respond to the call. Aged thirty, she died last November. Her death has aroused a lot of emotion among us. Although she was fragile when she arrived in March 2001, our most senior member had very quickly managed to impose herself thanks to her strong character! Today, her body rests within one of the sectors of the park so that she remains close to her 13 other companions (9 females and 4 males), in an environment that mankind should never have taken her away from.

eee

The suffering dance

It must be reminded that all these animals have been submitted, at their youngest age, to barbarous training techniques, including torture and mutilation so that they become able to achieve, to the sound of a musical instrument, unnatural acts.
At the age of 4 months, the bear cub is forced to stand on hot embers to make it stand up on its hind legs and stay in that position, which is a pose they naturally have but only when they are curious. At about 1 or 2 years old, the animal is submitted to the ‘ferrade’: whilst the bear is held to the ground, awake and alive, its 4 paws tied up, a huge metal ring is inserted into its nose, piercing either side of it.
At the same time, all the claws are pulled out with pliers. The teeth are filed and sometimes, even pulled out. In order to stop the hemorrhages, avoid infections and favor healing, the wounds are sprayed with vodka or schnapps then covered with embers.
In front of this concentrated suffering, the animal has not got any other possibility but to submit to its trainer and execute the acts asked for an everyday pittance, a mix of bread, milk and sugar, fatal for its teeth.

Target Safeguard

In 1999, Brigitte Bardot and her Foundation, informed of this medieval tradition born in the Balkans, decided to start a campaign of which the goal was to put an end to the martyr of these bears.
In her letters, our president urged the government at the time, not only to be interested in the Vier-Pfoten’s pilot project, the proposal of the creation of a sanctuary meant for bears, but she also insisted that they apply the law from 1992 that fully protects the brown bear and stipulates “it is forbidden to hunt, harm, capture, pursue and even disturb bears in their environment.

It is also forbidden to use bears and all wild animals to entertain and amuse the public”. Very quickly, the Bulgarian authorities cooperated by giving their authorization for the realization of this brilliant project. A park of one hectare is converted and welcomes, in 2000, the three first “dancing” bears, Stephen, Malinka and Kalinka. Followed by Stanca, Gosho and Bobby.

During that period of time, the mentalities also changed and the look the population had upon this man/animal relationship wasn’t the same. The owners wish to be separated as quick as possible from what used to be their ‘salary’ for too long.

In 2002, begins the construction of an extension of 11 000 square meters, constituted of 4 sectors, within an environment offering a favorable surrounding for the bears to express their physiological needs since the land, which is steep, is a mix of forests, hills, open spaces for sunbathing, dens, artificial caves and ponds in which the bears don’t hesitate to plunge when they wish to.

The first park and this extension are connected by a 30 meter-long bridge which makes this 12 hectare sanctuary, divided into seven sectors, one of the biggest of Europe.
1345 meters high in the mountains, the latter disposes of a overhanging surveillance center that offers a panoramic view over the sanctuary and has a veterinary room where the bears are submitted to a serious examination at their arrival.

A battle won by dint of boldness…

The substructures (imagined by the architect Mr. Tonchev), and the life conditions offered to our 13 boarders, amazed all of the guests and media that came in number this 5th of June. This opening, that took place step by step, began in the morning, within the stadium of Belitsa where the mayor of the town, the director of the project, Amir Khalil, and Mrs. Calmels-Bock (director general of the Foundation) officially declared the beginning of the festivities organized for the inhabitants of the area whilst reminding them that these bears meant employment and dynamism of the region.

Early afternoon, the protagonists of this project, accompanied by their respective teams, came to the sanctuary in order to ensure the welcoming of the first personalities in the most pure Bulgarian traditional way.
The strong moment occurred when the Bulgarian Prime Minister and his wife arrived and during their speech declared how delighted they were by the beauty and success of this sanctuary, born form an international cooperation. It is the symbol of a battle won thanks to boldness.
This is why our president, who was at the origin of this battle, had to intervene. Although she couldn’t attend the opening because of her health, miracle state-of-the-art technology permitted a telephone connection with Saint-Tropez and to the general surprise and huge joy of the people invited, Brigitte Bardot was able to express herself, sharing with the Bulgarian population her emotion and this important moment for the ‘dancing’ animal.

Following Dr. Amir Khalil’s presentation of the site and project, a sanctification by the pope took place in the presence of Mr. Dungler (director of Vier-Pfoten International), Mrs. Calmels-Bock, His Excellency Siméon II and his wife, appealed to be the godmother of this sanctuary. Therefore the honor of cutting the ribbon was hers, intense emotional moment immortalized by many journalists.
After a visit of one of the sectors where Gosho and Malinka knew how to attract the attention of the royal couple, the latter left the sanctuary, leaving the guests to taste and enjoy the Bulgarian specialties presented at the cocktail.

zzz

At 8pm many people were invited to the diner that ended this sumptuous day, even the bit of rain didn’t tarnish the happy atmosphere. This evening, illuminated by the presence of Bulgarian artists, gave everybody the chance to exchange their impressions and experiences whilst making the most of the warm hospitality Bulgaria offers. The evening ended with the presentation of a magnificent cake for the effigy of the sanctuary and its lodgers for whom dancing whilst suffering is finished…How brilliant and what a victory!

OOO

Dancing bears

Soon the end of a cruel tradition

Origin of tradition:

The tradition of “dancing” bears was born in the Balkans during the Middle Ages. The bears followed gypsies in their travels throughout Europe where the fashion settled and spread.
To entertain towns and villages, bear owners paraded their chained animal and forced them to dance to the melody of a musical instrument. For the owner it may be a useful way to earn some money, while the bear twirls around in fear and agony.
Minds have evolved throughout the centuries, animal suffering is now condemned. The tradition tends to disappear in many countries except for Bulgaria where it was flourishing business till June 2002.

Taming techniques :

- When the cub is 4 months old, it is placed on glowing embers so it learns to stand on its hind legs and keep the upright position. Bears adopt that attitude naturally only when they express curiosity.

- When the animal is 1 or 2 years old it undergoes the painful ordeal of having its muzzle pierced: it is held down without anaesthetic while a crude iron needle is heated in a coal fire and plunged in, while the cub is held tightly on the ground.
The claws are torn off with tweezers, still without anaesthetic. Teeth are filed and sometimes wrenched out.

- The daily allowance of food is a mixture of bread, milk and sugar.

- To stop haemorrhages, avoid infections, and ease the healing, the wounds are splashed with vodka or snaps and coated with embers.

The tug of the rope, along with intense fear of strike, motivates the bear to lift its legs and “dance”. It has no other choice than obey and perform the painful tricks.

Since 1992 the brown bear benefits from the protected species appellation delivered by the Ministry of Water and Environment.
Hunting, injuring, capturing, pursuing or even bothering brown bears in their natural environment is strictly forbidden.
Using bears or any other wild animal for entertainment or for shows in public places is also strictly forbidden.

Nevertheless, “dancing” bears were still shown around for the sad reason that there were no centres to shelter them.

Concrete results :

July 2000 : a 10 000 m² park was discovered in the Balkans near the district of Belitsa, at an altitude of 1 200 m. The size of the park is necessary to provide for the bear’s ecological and physiological needs. It was yielded by the mayor for 30 years to the Vier Proften association, our partner in this project.

November 17th 2000 : Opening of the park

The success of the project and the overwhelming amount of incoming bears (many owners wish to give away their bear as soon as possible and there are already 6 bears in the park) convinced the Bulgarian authorities to enlarge the park with another piece of land of 10 hectares that they yielded to us. It contains forests, rocks, steep slopes… in other words an ideal environment for brown bears.

Extension work started in November 2002 and should be finished by the end of this month. The new park should be large enough to shelter about 20 bears.

In 2002 the Foundation won the battle against the “dancing” bear tradition in Bulgaria.
July 10th 2002, the Bulgarian Parliament passed a law that prohibits anyone to hunt, sell, buy or exhibit a brown bear in front of a paying audience.