Pavel Stefanov’s Blog

This year I had the chance to visit a very beautiful part of Bulgaria, that is the southwest area of the country around the cities of Goce Delchev and Blagoevgrad. There are a few places that are worth visiting like the gigantic house in Melnik  (the smallest town in Bulgaria) built a few centuries ago, which has a winery 200 metres deep in the earth ground. The region is well-known for its great wines and I had the chance to taste one such that had a unique smell. Other places worth going to are Kovachevci and Leshten, ethnographic complexes similar to Etar. Pictures can be seen here.

But what stood out amongst the places I visited was the Dancing Bears Park in Belitsa. This project is sponsored by the Austria-founded international organization ‘Vier Pfoten’ (‘Four Paws’ in English) and Brigitte Bardot’s organization, which help many countries protect the rights and prevent physical and mental abuse of animals. Some of you are probably familiar with the stuff ‘Four Paws’ deals with if you are a regular watcher of Animal Planet like me. And right after I saw ‘Four Paws’ on a sign, I knew this was a key project for some serious issue.

A few years ago it wasn’t uncommon to see gypsies wandering around the downtown areas of cities, even capitals like Sofia, with their rebecks and bears or monkeys. People did not usually pay attention to that and could never imagine what these bears had gone through. You could see a ring hooked to the bear’s nose and that was really terrifying, but still nobody ever knew how much these animals had been and continued to be abused by their ‘master’.

So what is a dancing bear you ask? And the answer is simple – a bear which dances. But is it really dancing and how were they trained?

These monsters, which I previously called ‘masters’, smeared vaseline on the bears’ feet, put the animals on very hot iron and started playing on their rebecks. This way these monsters used to leave a psychological trace in the bears’ minds so whenever they start playing their instruments, the bear starts moving, which resembles dancing. They also took all the bears’ nails and teeth out using alcohol and tongs and they even castrated them so the animals are less aggressive and more controllable. In addition, the monsters pierced their noses, which is an extremely sensitive area (again, more controllable), with an awl. Malnutrition and other physical and mental abuse are the least these innocent bears suffered. This is considered barbarity in the 21st century. To be honest, this was the first project in years in Bulgaria that I think of as pure charity and unselfish help. But what surprises me is that when these bears were taken away from their so-called masters, the foundation or the country paid in order to take the bears instead of confiscating the animals, which leads me to believe that these monsters were never prosecuted and justice was never sought.

At the time of this writing, all dancing bears in Bulgaria have been captured and saved from their miserable being. There are currently 25 bears in the park, all of which are castrated and living the rest of their lives. A bear from Serbia recently arrived in the park and many more are to come and live there from other countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia. The park is fully equipped with the latest technology and facilities. It has its own medical and dental centre, which take care of the bears. Regular visits from Austrian and other doctors from around the country happen on an annual basis. Some of the bears are slowly trying to accustom to normal life, learning simple things like digging or finding food, but the cruelty of people will never fade away. You can help and learn more about this and other projects of ‘Four Paws’ at Vier Pfoten.