"Dancing bears"

  Had a chance to spend a couple of days near Bansko, Bulgaria, between the Pirin and rila mountains. Instead of photography, it was mainly sunbathing and swimming in the pool. What we wanted to achieve was a good rest and I think we managed quite well. Even though we wanted to rest we still thought it might be nice to see something interesting while there. Quick search on google and we found out that there is a town called Belitsa nearby and a short drive from this town, up in the mountains there is a bear sanctuary for the so called "dancing bears". You may ask what are "dancing bears"? Long story short, one more example of human cruelty towards animals. There was a time when some people "taught" bears to "dance". All this was achieved by means of cruel torture, the teeth and the claws were ripped of, the nose was pierced so that a chain could be attached to the animal for more control, and then there was the cruel schooling process with violin music and torture. Then this "fiddler" would walk around with hes "pet" playng his violin and people would give him some money because of the "funny show" with the "dancing bear". The good thing is that it's now forbidden to keep a wild animal as a pet in Bulgaria, this is from year 2007, but the park in Belitsa has been working since 2000 saving bears. At the moment there is 26 bears enjoying their well deserved retirement with the help of the Four Paws International and Brigitte Bardot foundation. No more "dancing bears", and that's good. I'm not very fond of zoos, but this place in Belitsa was for sure worth visiting (I really would say it's a zoo. More likely a place were bears have a safe haven from bad people), and I highly recommend everybody who's moving around in southern Bulgaria to go there. Even if there's a lot of bad people out there abusing animals, this kind of places show that there still are good people too, people who are interested in the welfare of not only people, but animals too. Here's a few images and a video clip in the end, and I'm pretty sure that when you see the behavior of the poor bear you agree that it isn't normal. Not all bears were acting like this, but this one was and it was very sad too look how cruel captivity has left its marks on it.

                                                    Lot's of climbing. Wear good shoes!


                            

                    Here's their facebook page: www.facebook.com/DancingBearsPark?fref=ts