Last week I came back from a moving assignment in Romania, home to the largest Eurasian brown bear population in Europe. Together with the fine people of the Zarnesti Bear Sanctuary, my colleagues from WSPA International paid two visits to the defunct zoo at Onesti in northern Romania and helped to remove three bears out of squalid captivity.
It seems that lack of adequate facilities and ultimately, funds, as well as implemention of the EU zoo directive has meant that this zoo had to part company with some of its bears. An all too common story in Romania, where a multitude of bears have been found suffering in small and rusted cages where they were used as pets or as attractions for restaurants and petrol stations.
Once transferred to the Zarnesti Bear Sanctuary, the new arrivals underwent a veterinary checkup before being released into a training enclosure. With over 160 acres (70 hectares) spread over a wooded hillside, this is Romania's first bear sanctuary and today houses 67 bears rescued from ramshackle zoos and cages at roadside restaurants around the country.
See the story here.
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