A brand-new animal sanctuary in Priština is already home to Kosovo’s last remaining captive brown bears following an urgent rescue campaign, even though construction has not yet finished.
A 15-hectare nature park has been created about 20 kilometres from Kosovo’s capital city, Priština, to house the last remaining privately (and illegally)-owned brown bears in the country. Most of the bears were stolen as cubs from the forests of Kosovo and Albania, and have been held in small cages, suffering from appalling conditions usually outside restaurants or shops to attract customers, although that practice has now been outlawed. Five bears were first confiscated by KFOR and the Ministry of the Environment and another ten were earmarked for rescue, sadly two of them, Rambo and Luta, were killed by their owner on hearing of their imminent capture, and their organs sold. However, this prompted the authorities to move quickly and the remaining eight bears were rescued within 24 hours instead of waiting until October for the sanctuary facilities to be completed. The new sanctuary, run by the international animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS, is now home to Kosovo’s 13 remaining captive bears and there they will enjoy a bear house with a large, grassed outside area, swimming pools to bathe in, caves for their winter hibernation and a huge natural environment where they can see out their days.
If you wish to visit bear sanctuary in Kosovo please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com
About the author: Tara
The travel professional with years of experience in the travel industry – in guiding, reservations, operations, contracting, customer service and product development – and have travelled extensively in Asia and Eastern Europe not just on holiday but also for work, inspecting hotels, visiting attractions and seeing exactly what each destination has to offer. The only way I could do this properly was with my own guide, car and driver and this inspired me to create my own range of customised private day tours for other people to be able to explore in-depth and learn to love their destination as much as I do.
Website: www.readyclickandgo.com
Website: http://www.readyclickandgo.com
