On June 2, Four Paws Bulgaria foundation said the active season for observing the bears at the Dancing Bears park in Rila Mountain near the village of Belitsa started a week ago. The most suitable time for watching the bears is until the end of June.

At the end of May, the Dancing Bear park started to actively welcome tourists, as all its inhabitants have woken up from their winter hibernation over the past two months.

The Dancing Bears Park accommodates bears that have been rescued from people, many of them Roma, who used the bears as a dancing attraction during village fairs.

“The mating period of the bears lasts until the end of June and the park’s visitors will be able to see unique things,” the head of the nursing team Vassil Madolev said. “The female bears start looking for a partner. The competition is merciless, as the male bears are twice as fewer as the female. The couples remain together until the end of the summer and live like a family,” he said.

Despite the mating rituals, the park’s inhabitants cannot make offspring, as all of them are castrated. Four Paws does the castration, as the foundation believes that the bears would not be able to teach the bear cubs to survive in the wild because they themselves have been raised in captivity. However, they are free now and live within the borders of the park. Although they are again fenced, the bears live a much better life than the times they spent with their Roma owners, who held them on iron rings tearing their noses in order to train them dancing.

More information about the Dancing Bears is available at the park's website.