Belitsa Bear Sanctuary

On my recent Intrepid tour through Bulgaria one highlight was several hours spent at the Belitsa Bear Sanctuary on the edge of the Rila National Park, some two-and-a-half hours south of the capital Sofia. The charitable trust that established the sanctuary received support from veteran animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot, and has been housing rescued bears from across Eastern Europe as more countries ban the cruel practice of 'dancing' bears. Visitors are left with no illusions of how painful and inhumane the centuries-old training process is, thanks to an introductory video that is particularly hard to watch. But once you venture out onto the well-fenced mountainside bear habitat it's a relief to see these formerly imprisoned animals now have a safe and stimulating natural environment in which to live out their retirement.

The bears are sociable but not all bears get along, so there are several separate large enclosures in which groups can cohabit. There's an hourly tour with well-informed Bulgarian guides but you can also wander the trails yourself, which is what I did for most of the visit. This resulted in several wonderfully peaceful close encounters with the bears as little as five metres away through the thankfully sturdy fences. Irrespective of the heft of the barriers, the bears were not in the least bit interested in me as I took their picture. The video below shows one enclosure pair, with the second bear having been rescued after a fight with an aggressive male that resulted in the medical amputation of her forepaw. Despite this, she is able to get around the mountainside quite well, if not speedily, hunting down the food the keepers secrete around the enclosures to keep the occupants active and engaged.