Bear Dancing - Did You Know??

In Asia, bears are taken from the wild and made to perform tricks for entertainment.  The World Society for the Protection of Animals wants governments to enforce stricter laws and has set up rescue centers for these bears in six countries.

After a lifetime of brutal treatment, including walking on burning embers, Bulgaria's last three dancing bears will get to rest their paws at a mountain sanctuary.  This apparent end to the centuries-old performance tradition in the Balkans happened in June when activists bought the freedom of Mima, 8, Misho, 19, and Svetla, 17.

Bulgaria is believed to have been the last country in the Balkans where dancing bears still performed, even though the practice was outlawed in 1993, when there were 20 to 30 such bears in the country.

The three bears will join another 20 brown bears at a 30-acre sanctuary for former dancing bears.  The Austria-based Four Paws Foundation created the sanctuary.  Because dancing bears are illegal, authorities could simply have taken the three bears away from their owners in the eastern village of Getsovo. Instead the Four Paws Foundation decided to pay for the bears' freedom by giving their owners small grants to set up new businesses.  In return, the owners signed declarations pledging never to take up the bear dancing business again.

Credits:  Best Friends Magazine, Sep/Oct 2007