Captivity is soon to be over for two brown bears taken from a run down zoo in Onesti, Eastern Romania, to the Liberty Bear Sanctuary in Zarnesti, around 25 km south – west of Brasov. According to Reuters news agency, the conditions the bears were being kept in contravene Romania's EU commitments on animal welfare.

The pair of bears will trade the cramped concrete enclosures of the zoo for 70 hectares of oak and hazel forest in the Carpathian Mountains, joining more than 60 other rescued bears living at the sanctuary. Built in 2005, the sanctuary keeps the bears in large open air enclosures, which include trees, large fresh water pools and hibernation dens, or in short, pretty much everything the average bear would want. A new 8 hectare enclosure is nearing completion at the sanctuary.

The sanctuary was set up with help from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), which provided financing, designs for enclosures and training for staff, while the municipality of Zarnesti donated the land to the sanctuary. The refuge has taken in bears from zoos that did not meet EU regulations, thus saving them from euthanasia, as well as providing a home for bears used as attractions for restaurant and other businesses. Normally these bears were captured when young and then kept in small cages as a novelty for clients.

Romania is one of the last refuges for European bears and their population is currently estimated at anything 7,000 up to 9,000. Some bears are legally hunted each year, but they do sometimes come into conflict with the human populations. People have died in bear attacks, including a recent incident man said to involve a bear caught in a poacher's trap, read more from Romania Insider here and here.

Find out more on the Liberty Bear Sanctuary.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com