Photo credit: (c) BOGDAN BARBULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Libearty, founded in 2005 and opened to visitors in 2008, is located in the deciduous forest near the town of Zarnesti, two kilometres away from the national road DN73 between Rasnov and Sibiu.

The reservation stretches on 69 hectares offered by the municipality of Zarnesti. It currently hosts 80 bears rescued from captivity throughout Romania. The 1.5 million dollars necessary each year came so far from donations of animal lovers worldwide.

‘No one offered such a large piece of land to bears so far. Unlike other sanctuaries, the one in Zarnesti helps bears to get used to their natural environment, providing the most effective help for forgetting the captivity pain. Oak forests are bears’ natural environment, helping them to overcome psychological trauma. The first bears were brought from Poiana Brasov in 2005; they were previously held in cages near several restaurants of that resort. We can say that over the 10 years since the founding of the Libearty sanctuary, we settled 90 percent of the cases of captive bears in Romania, including those kept in improper conditions in zoos. Those who think this reservation is a zoo change their mind after visiting it, and see wild animals — especially bears — in a different ways; for animal lovers, it’s a delight,’ Libearty manager Liviu Cioineag told AGERPRES.

Each bear there has their own story of years of captivity, misery, hunger and torment. Now they have the best conditions, including a pool. A 24-seat little train carries the tourists through the reservation; a second line in the southern part of the sanctuary is to be opened this year, connecting it to a future summer camp for children and to an underground observation point.

An observation point in a tree is already available for photographers. The underground facility will allow seeing the animals very close, through secure glasses, avoiding direct contact between humans and bears.

‘We want to homologate the summer camp for children in 2015. It will be kind of unique in Romania, being set up in a bear reservation. Children will live in a true Indian tent made by a family of Indians living in Canada. [editor’s note: the term ‘Indian’ for Native Americans or Canada’s First Nations carries no negative connotation whatsoever in Romanian; it was kept exactly as used by AGERPRES’s interviewee]. We want to provide a different kind of education here, without mobile phones and tablets. We are also preparing an educational centre to provide a link to the business, with a conference hall capable of hosting meetings in a special natural environment, even available for pupil and student lessons and research. Children will also learn about wild animals, through games. Over the next four or five years, we’ll talk more about education in the sanctuary, and less about tourism. Even nowadays visits are not mere visits — there’s a permanent guide, a documentary film about the sanctuary is shown to those who come see the bears, as well as many stories and lots of information about bears. This will actually be the purpose of the sanctuary in the near future — more education, less tourism,’ the manager explained.

Students from the United States, England, France, Australia and Russia come every year to the reservation of Zarnesti as volunteers and to study animal behaviour. Several organizations and foundations of England, Germany and France are supporting the sanctuary’s operation. Animal lovers can also virtually adopt a bear or — for Romanian contributors — redirect 20 percent of their income tax to the sanctuary.

The oldest bear in the reservation is a 32-year old female; the youngest — a 10-month cub named Pluto, saved alongside his mother from the zoo of Resita.

Cioineag says there are still some captive bears in Arad (western Romania), in a private farm; legal proceedings are underway to rescue them. A captive bear for which the owner has no authorization is the mascot of the resort of Streaja.

Libearty is open between 10am and noon, Tuesday through Sunday; the entrance is 40 lei (less than 10 euros) for grown-ups and 10 lei for children. AGERPRES