Rescued Dancing Bears Aided by Dorset Vets
Rescued bear, Uske.
The small Dorset-based charity, the Worldwide Veterinary Service, is helping to treat abused dancing bears in Serbia. Three of its volunteers travelled to Serbia to treat five bears at a sanctuary close to the Danube.
Making bears perform is illegal in Serbia and anyone found keeping and abusing wild bears faces prosecution, yet the practice continues.
The bears often have smashed teeth to make them 'safer' to handle, and pierced lips - and sometimes jaws - in order to attach ropes which are then tugged, inflicting pain and making the bears move in a way resembling dancing.
The only sanctuary in the country for brown bears is a small temporary centre in the back garden of Pavel Pasko, who runs the Arka charity alongside his wife.
Mr Pasko explained: "Our bears don't have experts to treat them in Serbia. We didn't know who to ask for help, but then we remembered Worldwide Veterinary Service so we called them and they responded."
The charity was set up by renowned vet, Luke Gamble, and is run with volunteer help. It aims to aid organisations around the world with medicines, equipment and treatment.
Luke Gamble said: "We go absolutely anywhere that needs help. We go all over the world. Because we are very small, we're very flexible and nearly everything we get goes straight out."
He added that the Serbian charity was "fantastic" and "championing the plight of dancing bears is a really worthwhile thing to do."
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
