Kosovo: Bear Sanctuary

When I was looking through travel guides for suggestions of things to do in Kosovo, this Bear Sanctuary caught my attention.  My daughter has an interest in helping animals (e.g., she did a community service project to help Pet Pal Animal Shelter  in St. Petersburg and enjoys visiting the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to visit Winter the dolphin who has the prosthetic tail)

In addition to my guest lecture at the US Embassy American Corner (see separate post on this blog) we planned to visit museums and cultural sites and sites related to the war in Kosovo.



I thought the the Bear Sanctuary would provide a kid-friendly excursion during this trip.

I failed to consider that it was still winter and that bears hibernate in the winter (!).  While there were some sleeping bears, we did have the opportunity to see several bears who were awake to greet us.

You can learn more about the history of the Bear Sanctuary on the website and the facebook page. (Links below)  But the short story is that at one time bears were kept in small cages as mascots for restaurants (a practice outlawed in 2010).  This Four Paws group stepped in to help care for these bears. The city of Pristina donated land in the forest. (And it was a scenic drive - past a lake - and through the forest in the mountains.)

there's a fun playground and cafe -- looks like it must be a fun place during warmer months

 Here is the facebook page (videos included!): https://www.facebook.com/BearSanctuaryPrishtina/

Here is the website: http://www.vier-pfoten.org/en/projects/bears/bear-sanctuary-prishtina/
where you can learn more - and support their work