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    Russia's Olympic bear kept caged on parked bus

    By DMITRY LOVETSKY - Associated Press | AP – Tue, Aug 2, 2011
    In this photo made Thursday, July 14, 2011, Katya, a 36-year-old bear, moves uneasily in her cage placed inside a bus that stands at a parking lot in St.Petersburg, Russia. Several dozen retired circus animals are kept in horrendous conditions in old buses and minivans that belong to St. Petersburg's Big Circus. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)In this photo made Thursday, July 14, 2011, Katya, a 36-year-old bear, moves uneasily in her cage placed inside …


    ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — For two years, a 36-year-old bear who performed during the 1980 Moscow Olympics has been kept with other retired circus animals in a rusty old bus parked on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

    Animal rights activists say they receive only minimal care in their cramped and stinking cages.

    Katya the bear was a longtime star of the Big St. Petersburg State Circus on Fontanka, where night after night she and another bear delighted children by riding motorcycles around the ring.

    During the 1980 Summer Games, the bears were applauded by thousands at a ceremony opening the football competition in St. Petersburg, then called Leningrad. Katya also performed in two movies released in the 1980s.

    Since her retirement in 2009, Katya and the painted bus on which she once toured with the circus have not left a parking lot near a busy highway. The aging bear spends the long hours jumping up and down in her cage and trying to crack the rusty metal railings with her chipped and yellowed teeth.

    Dozens of other retired circus animals also live in the smelly cages placed inside the bus and a minivan parked nearby.

    Some occasionally are taken out to accompany photographers to downtown St. Petersburg to have their pictures taken with children and tourists. Others never get washed or examined by veterinarians, animal rights activists say.

    "They can't move normally and start going crazy," Zoya Afanasyeva of the Vita animal rights group said as she stood by Katya's sweltering bus on a hot summer day.

    "Apparently they are being taken care of, but not more often than once a day, and this care is perfunctory because the smell here in the parking lot is unbearable," Afanasyeva said.

    Klava the bear shares a small cage with Pasha the boar. Birds with atrophied muscles live next to cats that don't meow and stare straight ahead with pus-covered eyes.

    Circus director Viktor Savrasov said the animals are cared for and Katya's fate would have been worse if her trainer had agreed to have the bear put to sleep.

    "Whatever happened, she did not leave her," he said of retired trainer Natalya Arkhipova, who still visits Katya to feed her.

    Animal rights activists have long urged Russia's government to strengthen animal protection laws.

     

    255 comments

    • CindyJ
      CindyJ  •  9 mths ago
      Having the bear put to sleep would actually be more humane than forcing her to live in those conditions. How very sad for her and the others who are forced to live a life of such restricted incarceration.
    • Pulelehua
      Pulelehua  •  9 mths ago
      Hey PETA, now THIS is where you can do some good.. PLEASE go get all those animals out of that situation, PLEASE
      • EricG
        EricG 9 mths ago
        Peta will do nothing. There to busy trying to stop hunters so they dont have time to do anthing that would make sense
    • what
      what  •  9 mths ago
      Disgusting!
    • A Yahoo! User  •  9 mths ago
      i just will never stop being hurt deeply in what the humans do to animals...please someone in russia...rescue them and let them walk on grass and open land. so sad. i try to help out locally in many ways but sometimes it gets too much internally picture yourself in those cages or pictures dogs tied up all across america in all sorts of weather. God will visit those that do this harm
      • Fawbots
        Fawbots 9 mths ago
        Have you seen "The Cove"? Documentary showing the systematic slaying of dolphins.
      • Распутин
        Распутин 9 mths ago
        What about the innocent people that die in the 3 wars the US is now engaged in? These children did not ask for NATO bombs to land on their homes.............what about real people dying every day for US oil interests............is that ok too?
      • PantherKat
        PantherKat 9 mths ago
        Go fark yourself Pac. I guess all of Rusia forgot about WW2 and how the Allies worked together against a nazi bully. What do you think should be done in Iraq, Afganistan, and Lybia??? What are your solutions?? Point that bony finger at someone else.....maybe yourself.
    • Snowdog
      Snowdog  •  9 mths ago
      Just plain wrong. Either take care of them or put them out of this lingering misery.
    • UsualSuspect10
      UsualSuspect10  •  9 mths ago
      I hope those who are treating these animals like this understand what suffering is before they die.
    • Rick B
      Rick B  •  9 mths ago
      It brings tears to my eyes when I read things like this. These poor animals can't understand why they are treated so badly. Let them go or donate them. Where is PETA when they are really needed?
    • Dieter
      Dieter  •  9 mths ago
      Animals don't belong in cages, period. Except politicians.
      • Tom
        Tom 9 mths ago
        Well said!
    • anonymous
      anonymous  •  9 mths ago
      How unbelievably cruel. Surely some of the new russian billionaires can do better than that for the image of Russia. God, how man abuses animals!!!!
    • philip h
      philip h  •  9 mths ago
      Wish i had the money to help them..:( :( :(
    • morgana
      morgana  •  9 mths ago
      It would of been kinder to put her to sleep than have her living in filth and slowly going stir crazy. Maybe her "caretakers" should spend a month or two living in the cage and only being thrown food once a day. There is no such thing as "humanity" . People disgust me.
    • gl
      gl  •  9 mths ago
      This is so heartbreaking. How can people be so heartless, so cruel? And how can other people allow it to happen? We humans, we're a plague on this earth.
      • Robert
        Robert 9 mths ago
        I am afraid you may be right.
      • ProfG
        ProfG 9 mths ago
        Russians are so much into themselves that animals, pet or wild, mean nothing to them.
    • ▲▼▲▼▲▼
      ▲▼▲▼▲▼  •  9 mths ago
      A circus-animal gulag. How sad.
    • Sher
      Sher  •  9 mths ago
      This is an example of how they treat others.
    • John B
      John B  •  9 mths ago
      this is very sad
      • Michelle
        Michelle 9 mths ago
        This is one of the saddest stories I have ever read. I wish someone would please, please help these animals now that this is on Yahoo and out there. Like Peta or any other wildlife protection agency. Please do a follow up report if this happens.
    • Simple Jack
      Simple Jack  •  9 mths ago
      This is why I could honestly gove a #$%$ about the human race as a whole and donate a more and more to animal orginazations. WE are the problem in this world, not the animals.
    • Vixen
      Vixen  •  9 mths ago
      And to think: Putin says the U.S. is a parasite to the world...
    • Brian
      Brian  •  9 mths ago
      Russia is a circus.
    • Proud American II
      Proud American II  •  9 mths ago
      Putin called the U.S. a parasite to the rest of the world. Before you open your mouth and criticize other countries clean up your own mess because you have plenty (starting with animal cruelty)
    • canoer
      canoer  •  9 mths ago
      Hey Putin, who looks and acts like parasites in the world's eyes now?
      Third world countries treat their animals better than this. Ever heard of the internet? Find a zoo who would love to take care of your discarded wildlife.
     Post a comment
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