The history of Bulgaria’s dancing bears

The king of the forest. Up to 600 kg heavy. Bear is a strong and scary beast. But there is one beast that tamed him. A creature even scarier and much crueller than a bear. 

He put a ring into the bear’s nose and dragged him on a chain. He could make the furry giant walk on hot plates and dance.

The human, the cruellest animal of all time, has a long history of torturing bears for entertainment. 

The story behind dancing bears, a tradition that was once popular in Bulgaria, India and many other countries, is full of cruelty and mistreatment.

For hundreds of years, the European royals, the tourists visiting Bulgarian resorts, and families with kids loved watching the bears dance. It wasn’t that long ago – some of those bears are still alive, and luckily they found a safe home in Belitsa Bear Sanctuary in the Bulgarian Rila mountains. I visited this place during my bicycle tour through the Balkans in July 2022 to learn more about Bulgaria’s dancing bears.

The history of dancing bears

The idea of forcing a wild animal to perform for the sake of someone’s entertainment sounds pretty old-school, doesn’t it? The dancing bears have been seen in Europe since the middle ages. But this cruel tradition is not as outdated as it sounds. As recent as three decades ago, it was still legal in Bulgaria. 

The craft of teaching bears how to dance was passed from generation to generation in the families of Roma buskers. They bought a baby bear from a zoo, tied it down and kept it without water and food for a couple of days. Then, he would be given some water by his master. 

They pierced the most sensitive part of the bear’s body – the nose. The master put a ring that forever connected him and the bear with a chain. When the master was playing gadulka, traditional Bulgarian violin, the bear was pulled by the chain.

The bears were also forced to step on hot metal plates. They would jump to avoid getting burned while their owner played the music. Over time, the bear’s brain developed a link between the music and the hot plates. The music was enough to trigger the bear to lift his paws. It looked like a dance.

Fed with bread and sweets and intoxicated with vodka or beer, many animals suffered from malnutrition that caused blindness and other health problems. According to Dr Amil Khahil, a veterinarian at The Four Paws Foundation, some bears were given 11 bottles of beer daily and became alcoholics. 

After the practice was banned in Bulgaria in 1998 and the bear became a species protected in Europe, another problem occurred. What to do with bears who spent their whole life in captivity and wouldn’t survive in the wild? You can’t just let the owners ditch the bears that used to be their source of income.

Belitsa Bear Sanctuary

In 2000 Four Paws and Brigitte Bardot Foundation found a big piece of land in the Rila Mountains and established a Bear Sanctuary. 

The place resembles the natural habitat of a brown bear. The hills are overgrown with dense forest. There is also a swimming pool where the bears can cool down on a warm summer day.

The sanctuary has become one of the main tourist attractions in the region. Visitors from Bansko, a well-known mountain resort, are coming hoping to see the king of the forest. For many, the goal of the visit is to take a picture with a bear. They whistle and shout to get their attention, not caring that the traumatized bears should be left alone. 

-Unfortunately, many people don’t know how to behave. Sometimes we need to intervene when they bother or tease the bears. – says my guide.

The foundation really puts first the well-being of the animals. As we walk along the path between the wired fence, the guide looks around, trying to spot if there are any animals in sight. There is no guarantee that visitors will see a certain amount of bears. 

All male bears are castrated. The foundation doesn’t want bear cubs to be born in captivity, as they couldn’t survive in the wild. 

The animals roam freely on 12 ha of forest. Some have recovered from the trauma of years of abuse, and some still spend hours quietly laying under a tree and staring into nothingness. 

-In captivity, the bears didn’t hibernate. Now, after years of rehabilitation, they have found their natural rhythm again and spend the winter sleeping – says one of the sanctuary’s employees. Most residents of Belitsa sanctuary are already senior bears – the oldest one is 30 years old (in the wild, the bears live up to 25 years). 

Last dancing bears in Europe

The last Bulgarian dancing bear was rescued in 2007. In 2017, a bear from Albania moved in. He was most likely the last dancing bear in Europe. 

As there are no more dancing bears to be rescued, the sanctuary now helps the animals held in poor conditions in zoos or in private captivity. Three bears: Monty, Teddy and Lady M were rescued from zoos and circuses. There are still places where bears are kept in small cages in hotels or restaurants. I remember how shocked I was a few years ago, when I saw a bear in a cage, next to a private house on the outskirts of Sarajevo. If you want to help, you can for example sign a petition to help rescue Marco, a bear from Tirana, tutaj.

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To learn more about the dancing bears watch the official documentary of Belitsa Bear Sanctuary.