site.btaEurope's Largest Dancing Bear Refuge Opens in SW Bulgaria

On June 5, 2004, the bear sanctuary in the southwestern town of Belitsa was officially unveiled. It was set up in 2000 by the Four Paws global animal welfare organization jointly with France’s Brigitte Bardot Foundation to provide a sanctuary for the re-adaptation of bears forced to dance for entertainment, a popular street attraction in Eastern Europe in the 20th century. All registered dancing bears in Bulgaria have since been saved. There currently are 16 bears at Belitsa, among them rescues from Serbia, Albania, Romania, and North Macedonia.

The bear sanctuary at Belitsa is the biggest one in Europe, currently encompassing an area of 120,000 sq m in a region that is a natural home to the brown bear, a protected species in Bulgaria. The sanctuary is also a tourist attraction with thousands of Bulgarian and foreign visitors a year.

Following is the story in BTA's English-language newsletter Daily News that covered the bear sanctuary's official opening:

PM Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Attends Inauguration of Europe's Largest Dancing Bear Refuge

Belitsa, Southwestern Bulgaria, June 5 (BTA) - Europe's largest dancing bear refuge opened near Belitsa on Saturday. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, MPs, diplomats and some 300 guests from Bulgaria and abroad.

The Prime Minister called the event "truly remarkable" in his address. "The great initiative of Brigitte Bardot's foundation and the Four Paws Foundation sets an example to all because it will help putting Belitsa on the map of Europe and will attract many tourists. This is a really wonderful place and any foreign visitor will find out that Bulgaria has a wealth here," he said.

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha regretted the fact that Bardot was unable to attend the ceremony for reasons of health. In a recorded message, she called the rehabilitation park one of her greatest achievements ever.

The Prime Minister and the official guests walked round the refuge with an area of 12 hectares at an altitude of 1,345 metres in the southern Rila Mountain. Thirteen of Bulgaria's 24 performing bears already live in the park, and the rest will join them shortly. The park has two parts linked by a 30-metre safe bridge and is fenced with nearly 30 metres of an electric shepherd.