Balgarianovinite.com The Bear Sanctuary near Belitsa, formerly known as the Dancing Bears Park, opened on November 17, 2000, as the first park on the Balkan Peninsula and in Eastern Europe created to provide a home for brown bears that had been mistreated and trained to dance for public entertainment. The park is located in the southern Rila Mountain, about 12 km from Belitsa. It initially covered 1.1 hectares and later expanded to 12 hectares, reaching an altitude of around 1,300 metres in a mixed forest.
The park was built with funding from Four Paws and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, as well as from the municipality of Belitsa, with support from experts specializing in brown bear behaviour and habits. The bears live in an environment that closely resembles their natural habitat. Four Paws successfully rescued all 25 registered dancing bears in Bulgaria and relocated them to the park.
The Bears Sanctuary near Belitsa is currently home to 17 bears, most of them being former dancing bears from Bulgaria. It also hosts bears from Serbia and Albania, according to the Bear Sanctuary Belitsa website.
According to the Four Paws website, dancing bears were a common sight on the streets of Eastern Europe throughout the 20th century. Typically, they were young bears captured from the wild and raised in captivity, often kept on chains and forced to perform tricks for public entertainment. This cruel practice was banned in Bulgaria in 1998.
Following is the news story by which the BTA Home News Desk announced the opening of the park on November 17, 2000:
Bear Shelter Park Inaugurated
Belitsa (Southwestern Bulgaria), November 17 (BTA) – The first bear shelter park in Eastern Europe was inaugurated in Mt Rila near Belitsa on Friday. At the ceremony Deputy Environment and Waters Minister Mariana Loukova said that her Ministry is about to resolve the problem of domesticated dancing bears in Bulgaria relying on the joint efforts of Bulgarian and international NGOs. Environmental activists are planning to provide shelter to all bears in Bulgaria originally trained to dance in the street to the amusement of passers-by. Such facilities will help the animals readapt to their natural surroundings. The park is located on an area of 1 ha provided by the Belitsa Municipality. These parts are also known as a natural habitat of wild bears. Three bears have been bought from their Roma masters and have been living in the park since late September. Each animal has its own den and pool. An information centre has been built to educate Bulgarian and foreign tourists about bears and other animals. Research activities are also planned. The centre has been built for three months by the Vienna-based Four Paws Foundation. Foundation President Helmut Dunglar was among the guests at the inauguration. The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, the other partner and the major sponsor of the 500,000 Deutsche mark project, was represented by its Director General Calmel Bocq. Members of animal welfare organizations from Germany, Switzerland, Britain, the Netherlands and the United States also attended the ceremony. Prof. Yotko Kamenov of the Bulgarian chapter of Four Paws told BTA that the readaptation of the three bears is proceeding well. They are now allowed to move freely around the park. Their leash-rings were taken off their noses a couple of days before. November 17, 2000: First Bear Shelter Park in Eastern Europe Opens near Belitsa 2025 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-11-17 08:38:09 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law