Russia's Olympic Bear Of St. Petersburg Circus Kept Caged On Parked Bus

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- 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.

Comments

[J Harlin]

05:15 PM on 08/09/2011

I wrote WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals), a super international animal welfare organization, and they provided me with the following petition to sign, as well as other information regarding these poor, caged animals:

With regard to the welfare issues of bears in St. Petersburg­, Russia, Vita Animal Rights Centre, Russia ( http://www­.vita.org.­ru/english­/english.h­tm ) has a petition for people to sign here: http://www­.change.or­g/petition­s/save-rus­sias-olymp­ic-bear-of­-st-peters­burg-circu­s

Several organisati­ons are also urging people to write to the Russian Embassy in their country, and guidelines can be found here: http://our­compass.wo­rdpress.co­m/2011/08/­03/russias­-olympic-b­ear-of-st-­petersburg­-circus-ke­pt-caged-o­n-parked-b­us-please-­send-sampl­e-letter-s­ign-petiti­on/

WSPA has repeatedly complained to the mayor about the treatment of bears in St. Petersburg and about other issues related to bears in Russia to the Russian authoritie­s, but these complaints have not been addressed.

For more informatio­n on the challenges facing animal welfare efforts in Russia, please click on the following link;

Answer Title: Animal welfare in Russia
Answer Link: http://wsp­a.custhelp­.com/cgi-b­in/wspa.cf­g/php/endu­ser/std_ad­p.php?p_fa­qid=96

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

08:38 AM on 08/04/2011

regardless of how long it's been since this bear has been free, let her back into the wild.

[Treehuggindirtworshiper]

02:25 PM on 08/04/2011

Unfortunately that's not an option. Once a bear has been around humans, especially being feed, they will look for humans and food to survive.

[onlyaquarterdelusional]

10:10 AM on 08/05/2011

Understood, but Siberia is a big place and currently they basically are torturing this animal.

[leiser18]

09:34 PM on 08/03/2011

It is a crying shame that this bear and other "retired" circus animals must live under these conditions. Someone should definitely do something about that. I will sign any petition pertaining to this case.

[john649]

07:10 PM on 08/03/2011

Please sign this petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/to-free-russia39s-olympic-bear-and-other-aniamls-kept-caged-on-parked-bus/

[Ann-Pittsburgh]

02:33 AM on 08/04/2011

Thank you for posting the link, John. This Care2 petition was launched by one of our fellow HP posters. In a little over a day, the petition has gathered close to 800 signatures from around the world, and it's going strong. Kudos to Rachelle and to everyone who is standing up for Katya and the other "retired" circus animals.

[katy-38]

06:21 PM on 08/03/2011

A small donation can be made to "Born Free" apparently - specify that you want your funds to target the animals of this video, or allow Born Free to use funds generally or generally for similar animals. http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/zoo-check/circuses-performing-animals/uk-circuses/

The USA version of this org (Born Free USA) has moderate reviews on Charity Navigator; I do not know how Born Free UK compares/how well they allocate monies to the actual animals. Best wishes all - stay sane, healthy and strategic amid the insane, malicious and ignorant.

[olitenup]

12:57 PM on 08/03/2011

They are better off dead then living like this.

Someone please help them!

[anywaylm]

11:04 AM on 08/03/2011

I am sick to my stomach about this. However, I know every day of every week of every year we have such atrocities to animals occuring all over the world. Man's inhumanity to man AND animals is beyond disgust. I just can't say anything else. I just cry.

[olitenup]

12:56 PM on 08/03/2011

I am with you.

[ebanks84]

10:50 AM on 08/03/2011

It would have been better for the animals if they had put them to sleep instead of allowing them to suffer like this. This is cruel and inhuman.

[MyssRisa]

09:48 AM on 08/03/2011

The circus owners should swap places with the animals. The end.

[Dan Bekkering]

09:36 AM on 08/03/2011

The stupidity of humanity is long known by me and this tiny encagement in a non airconditioned unsufici"ent housing for a bear is yet another example of utter human ignorance, this time on Russian behalf.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

08:50 PM on 08/02/2011

what the hell do the russians think
that the bear enjoys the bus
and shares a drink
this aging animal
should finally be free
released to an appropriate
bear sanctuary!!!!

[Yu Li Ooi]

08:44 PM on 08/02/2011

Someone please help release this bear into a safe enclosure in an open area perhaps a sanctuary where he is able to run freely with other of his kind.

[Issaquah79]

07:50 PM on 08/02/2011

I would care but that would mean I'd have to give up caring about humans and those starving in Somalia, and dying in wars across the globe! Supporting Circus abuse and other animal atrocities saves humans. Or am I confused? Besides PETA must be against this so I'm FOR it. PETA sucks forget the animals because PETA exists and so animals need to suffer. If I keep complaining about PETA I think I'll eventually feel better about my apathy. If it weren't for PETA I'd actually have to Care so I love talking about PETA and not the suffering of other beings.

[Duke1225]

05:22 PM on 08/02/2011

Please send a link to the President. Here is a letter you can copy and paste if you wish. I also included another horror animal situation in Russia.
http://eng.news.kremlin.ru/


Dear Mr. President,
I know that you have a soft spot for animals because of your wonderful work with tigers. I know of two horrid animal situations in Russia that both need immediate attention. One is the retirement situation of the animals from Big St. Petersburg State Circus on Fontanka . They live on a bus! The animals can't move, and their muscles are atrophying.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/02/russia-olympic-bear--st-petersburg-circus_n_915820.html#comments

The other is the treatment of the primates at the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy

.http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stalins-space-monkeys-808978.html

All of these animals have completed service to their country. The animals from the circus performed at the 1980 olympics and the primates have been used for experimentation.

I know you can do something that would cause incredible good feelings through the world. Something that we all need right now.

Very Sincerely,

[Issaquah79]

07:59 PM on 08/02/2011

Thanks for this info. I just sent off my letter.

[g-moi]

05:00 PM on 08/02/2011

Don't do it.