Zarnesti is a
\ntown in Brasov County. On the outskirts of the town you can find the world’s
\nlargest bear sanctuary. It was officially inaugurated in 2008, by the Millions
\nof Friends Association and the World Association for the Protection of Animals.
\nMore than 100 bears found their peace here; they had been saved from a cruel
\nand abusive life in captivity. Each of the bears has their own story. Some of
\nthem were saved from being kept in suffocating cages, being a mere reason for
\npeople to have fun in restaurants, hotels, factories, gas stations, circuses or
\neven monasteries. Others were brought over from zoos around the country that
\ncouldn’t afford offering bears normal living conditions, or from illegal bear
\nowners. Here in Zarnesti the bear sanctuary has a surface area of 70 hectares
\nof forest and grazing grounds. Water tanks, trees for climbing, feeding areas
\nand individual shelters have been made available on the premises. In fact, the
\nbear sanctuary was born from the grief and pain caused by the death of a
\nshe-bear, Maya, which had been kept in captivity for the amusement of tourists.
\nMaya was saved by the president of the Millions of Friends Association,
\nCristina Lapis, who is also the founder of the sanctuary.<\/p>\n
Cristina Lapis:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nIt has been 15 years since the sanctuary was founded and it would not have come
\ninto being had the she-bear Maya not died in my arms, having maimed herself
\neating her front paws. That she-bear was illegally kept in a cage nearby Bran
\nCastle at a guesthouse, allegedly used as an attraction point for the potential
\nclients. All foreign tourists who travelled to Romanian and who passed by that
\nguesthouse could see for themselves the bear’s gruesome facilities and
\nannounced the World Animal Protection Association. I was contacted by that foundation;
\nthey asked me to go check if the living conditions of the bears were that
\nserious. There were also other bears from Poiana Brasov, nearby the Poiana
\nUrsului hotel, who were tortured, which prompted me to vow that someday, those
\nbears would be free again. I began by asking what the prospective solutions
\nwere, for the bears, I had the support of the authorities telling me to rest
\nassured that, if I created a sanctuary for those bears who had been kept in
\nimproper conditions for a wild animal, I would get all the support I needed.
\nAnd that’s how the adventure started. Back then it didn’t even cross my mind we
\nwould have as many as 106 bears, which is the number of bears we have at the
\nmoment. And that is how Romania can now boast the biggest brown bears
\nsanctuary. That is how, in 2016, Romania had the world’s most ethical
\nsanctuary, second-placed being a gorillas sanctuary, while the third largest
\nsuch area was an elephants sanctuary. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The bears in
\nZarnesti can never be released in the wilderness since they can no longer adapt
\nto wildlife. Many of them cannot stand seeing or hearing human beings, as they
\nhad been much too traumatized by humans.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Cristina Lapis:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In recent years, we took the bears
\nthat were confiscated by the National Environment Guard, they were bears kept
\nat the bread Factory, at the uranium Factory, at monasteries, they were bears
\nkept near the petrol pump. These places are absolutely incredible for an animal
\nto be kept in. They were kept there because the Romanian made a habit of that, in
\nthe past the Romanians used to be bear leaders but also circus performers, they
\nwere bear tamers, taking them to the market towns, while towards the end of her
\nor his life, the bear was a trophy but also a money-making device. A bear that
\nwas shot in his cage in Poiana Brasov was a bear with a net worth standing at
\naround 10,000 – 15,000 Euro. The bear is the king of the Carpathian forests and
\nit is a pity to put them in a cage and mock them. It is one of Romania’s great
\ntreasures, and it must be protected. Not only because it is a richness of our
\nforests, but also because there is the International Convention in Berne
\nRomania signed and ratified through a law, officially acknowledging the fact
\nthat the brown bear was a protected animal. Unfortunately, we were unable to
\ngather all the bears. In Romania, there are around 10 or 15 bears that are kept
\nin the same conditions. For instance, at a guesthouse in Straja, this year there
\nwill be 20 years since a bear has been kept in a cave. 20 years! One year after
\nthe next the bear gets a birthday cake and is given beer to drink. The footage
\nhas been posted on YouTube and the whole world can see we keep a bear near a
\nguesthouse to draw clients to that guesthouse. For 10 years we have been trying
\nto persuade the authorities to release it and take it to a sanctuary, to a zoo,
\nto a proper place…<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romanian boasts Europe’s largest population of bears;
\nthey prefer vast and thick forests, less frequented by the man. Unfortunately,
\nthe increased pressure the forests have been under has lead to a great many
\nincidents. Some bears climb down to households, doing a lot of damage. <\/p>\n
Cristina Lapis:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As we speak, in our forests, or at
\nleast what has been left of them, there is no forest fruit, there are no
\nmushrooms left, no nothing, as everything is taken away. So bears, no longer
\nhaving a source of food, come and look for it wherever they can smell it. And
\nif guesthouses, houses and villas are being built in forests, where everybody
\ncan have a barbecue, we almost invite them over, so little wonder then that
\nthey come. Of course the hungry bears are on the lookout for food. They do not
\ncome to town because they want to take a walk around, it’s us that have been
\ntrespassing and invading them! We took their lands away from them, we do not
\nprovide the food they need, and the solution is a complex one. Shooting them is
\nnot a solution either. Hotels, guesthouses, houses that are built along the
\nforest tree line should have protection, they should have an electric fence,
\nand the bear will stop there. In the towns and villages lying at the forest tree
\nline, people should grow apple trees and pear trees, as well as corn, and the
\nbear, searching for food, will stop there. Hunters’ associations and the
\nforestry authorities should provide bears with food during spring, just as they
\nused to do in the past. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The bears Sanctuary in Zarnesti will soon reach the maximum
\nof its housing capacity, so the Environment Ministry announced it would approve
\nthe building of a new sanctuary for bears. Also, beginning this year, it has
\nbeen officially decided that the Romanians living in areas populated by bears
\nshould receive subsidies for the purchase of electric fences, capable of
\nprotecting their households. The authorities have also pledged they would
\nfinance a research study on the population of bears, carried with the
\nstate-of-the-art technology, so that we may exactly know the number of brown
\nbear specimens living on Romanian territory. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Protecting the brown bears in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44315],"tags":[39822,44420,44172],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-153298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-planet","tag-bears","tag-sanctuary","tag-zarnesti"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n