Help to save
ten bears from euthanasia

Bosnia & Herzegovina: 

For many years now a large number of wild animals have lived under illegal and completely inhumane and inadequate conditions where they are being kept as an attraction and marketing tool for restaurants and other catering establishments or in private zoos. 

They all ended up in the hands of their current “owners” thanks to insensitive hunters who killed their mothers. 

Two bears, who have spent their entire life in small cages, under terrible conditions, are going to be put down by decision of  Bosnia & Herzegovina's Ministry of Agriculture, Water-Management and Forestry.  Actually, the same fate expects all 10 captive bears, known in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Articles published in the Bosnian news

Eutanazija medvjeda Lake i Gvide je zločin prema prirodi - for English, see translation link 
Medvjedima Laki i Guidi prijeti eutanazija - for English, see translation link 
Medvjedi Gvido i Laka spas od eutanazije naći će u Mađarskoj? - for English, see translation link 

These bears deserve a happy ending, 
just like Miljen, the Bosnian bear saved by NOA in 2008

Miljen the bear suffered near starvation after being kept in a cage in a gangster's private zoo in Bosnia for eight years. But on Wednesday a new chapter began as he arrived at his new home in France, with two female bears waiting to keep him company. 

Everyone likes a happy ending. And that is exactly what seems to be in the cards for Miljen. The bear from Bosnia-Herzegovina fell into the hands of a gangster as a cub and was recently found nearly starved in a cage. On Wednesday he arrived in France to live the high life in a sanctuary with two female bears as companions. 

Back in 2000 after his mother was killed by hunters, Miljen was sold as a cub to a local mafia boss who had a private zoo. The man kept his exotic pets, such as Siberian tigers, in the garden of a hotel he owned which acted as a hang-out for local crime figures. In 2005 the crime boss was thrown in jail for human trafficking and most of the animals were sent to zoos but somehow Miljen was left stranded in his cage. He was kept alive by Darko Sevic, one of the hotel's waiters, who could only afford to feed him a loaf of bread a day and any scraps left over from the hotel restaurant. "I feel ashamed that he was in such a bad condition," Sevic told Reuters. "I tried to help him as much as I could."

The eight-year-old bear was finally rescued after he was spotted by a Serbian filmaker who was shooting a film in the area and who notified local animal rights group NOA. By then Miljen weighed just 75 kilograms when a bear of his age should have weighed 200 kilograms. Fedin Gunic of NOA told SPIEGEL ONLINE that the group had to try to find a refuge for the bear abroad, since there are no animal protection shelters in Bosnia.

In the end, it was the involvement of Respectons, a French animal protection group, that secured Miljen his new home in an animal sanctuary in western France. However, there were a number of legal hurdles to get over before the bear could be transported to his new abode. Bosnia is not a member of the European Union and has not signed the international convention on the transport of animals, so Miljen's rescuers had to enter a bureaucratic labyrinth of forms and applications to secure a visa.

Although Miljen was granted special dispensation in the end, the animal rights group was told it would still have to provide medical tests to prove the bear was in good health. It was then that the local villagers in Prijedor pitched in. Gunic told SPIEGLEL ONLINE that local NOA member and pet store owner Davor Gvozden collected donations and villagers would visit his store to bring food for the under-weight bear. After three months of intensive feeding the bear weighed over 150 kilograms and finally got the all clear.

He began his journey on Tuesday and was transported in an air-conditioned van with video surveillance, accompanied by specially trained vets and French journalists.

According to NOA the bear arrived safely in France on Wednesday and was due to arrive at the Refuge de l'Arche in western France in the late afternoon. Gunic said that the group was very happy about his condition. He said that the vet who had accompanied Miljen on his journey had confirmed he was "calm and not nervous on the journey … Everything went smoothly."

"He is in the best possible hands, no other place in the world is better suited to taking care of him," Gunic said.

There are two female bears to keep him company at his new French home near the Loire valley. They will be the first bears Miljen has ever encountered after spending eight years in a cage.

But the liberated bear will have to wait just a little bit longer before he gets to meet his new friends. A spokeswoman for the sanctuary told SPIEGEL ONLINE that Miljen will be kept in a separate enclosure so that he can recover from his journey. "We want to leave him alone for a few days to destress." she said. "The distance between Bosnia and France is 2,500 kilometers. That can be pretty exhausting."

This article was originally published at SPIEGEL ONLINE on 04/16/2008 

Please speak out for the Bosnian bears!
Copy, paste and send the letter below to the given address

Ministry of Agriculture, Water-Management and Forestry
Minister mr. sc. Damir LJubić 
Titova 15, 71000 Sarajevo, BiH
Phone: +387 33 44 33 38
Fax: +387 33 66 36 59
Email: kabinet@fmpvs.gov.ba  


Mr  LJubić, 

with reference to the letter of NOA, Society for the Protection of Animals (http://www.drustvonoa.org/akcija%20492.html) dated February 2012,  I wish to express my deep concern about the two bears who are going to be put down by decision of the ministry you direct.  Actually, the same fate expects all 10 captive bears, known in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
.
From an article published in your local news (http://www.dnevniavaz.ba/vijesti/iz-minute-u-minutu/78215-medvjed.html) I know that a sanctuary in Hungary is ready to accept and adopt these bears if they find a good will in the relevant institutions to halt their decision on euthanasia and would issue the necessary documents for export. Their euthanasia is thus no longer justifiable given that a solution to save the bears exist. 

I have also learned that on September 22nd, 2009, the animal welfare organisation NOA BiH has received information from the federal inspector for Forestry and Hunting, Mr. Sulejman Hasimbegovic, that he ordered regional hunting inspectors to inspect all locations where wild animals are being kept in captivity and that the decision has been made to solve this problem by executing these caged animals (http://www.drustvonoa.org/akcija%20242.html).

I  would like to ask you to please halt the execution of this decision made by the hunting inspector and to protect all caged wild animals until a humane and adequate adoption has been organized and animals that are no longer able to return to their natural habitats have been transferred to sanctuaries. It is completely unacceptable for these innocent animals to pay with their lives because of the bureaucratic ineptitude and human irresponsibility. Animals that are illegally caged are not guilty for current negligence and lack of government action and their execution would cause BiH to be judged internationally with unprecedented proportions. 

I urge you to collaborate with the animal protection organisations in your country who will help you to find a humane and adequate solution for these animals. Not doing so and killing these beautiful, innocent creatures, will cause an international scandal and an avalanche of reactions from animal welfare organizations and activists throughout the world. It would be harmful to the economy of your country and you can thus expect boycott of tourism and commerce, advertising against your country, demonstrations in front of your embassies, travel agencies, on the internet and various media. 

Yours sincerely,

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please sign with your name and address 

Serbian version

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede,vodoprivrede i sumarstva
Ministar mr.sc.Damir Ljubic
Titova 15, 71000 Sarajevo, BiH
Phone: +387 33 44 33 38
Fax: +387 33 66 36 59
Email: kabinet@fmpvs.gov.ba

Gospodin Ljubic,

Prema saznanju od Drustva za zastitu zivotinja NOA http://www.drustvonoa.org/akcija%20492.html od februara 2012, zelim da izrazim svoju duboku zabrinutost za dva medveda koji ce biti uspavani na osnovu RESENJA vaseg Ministarstva. Zapravo, prema mom saznanju, ista sudbina ocekuje svih 10 zatocenih medveda, koji se nlaze na teritoriji Bosne i Hecegovine.

Na osnovu clanka koji je objavljen u vasim lokalnim novinama, http://www.dnevniavaz.ba/vijesti/iz-minute-u-minutu/78215-medvjed.html, znamo da je utociste u Madjarskoj spremno da prihvati i udomi ove medvede, ako postoji dobra volja nadleznih institucija da povuku RESENJE o eutanaziji i izdaju potrebnu dokumentaciju za izvoz. Dakle, njihova eutanazija nije opravdana s obzirom da posoji nacin da se medvedi spasu.

Takodje, znam da je 22og. septembra Drustvo za zastitu zivotinja NOA-BiH dobilo informaciju od Saveznog inspektora za Lov i Sumarstvo, gospodina Sulejmana Hasimbegovica,da je nalozio Lovnim inspektorima da obidju sve lokacije gde se divlje zivotinje drze u zatocenistvu i da je na osnovu toga doneto RESENJE da se zivotinje uniste, kako bi se resio ovaj problem. http://www.drustvonoa.org/akcija%20242.html

Zeleo bih da Vas zamolim, da zaustavite izvrsenje RESENJA Lovnog inspektora i zastitite sve zatocene divlje zivotinje dok se ne organizuje humano i adekvatno usvajanje zivotinja koje nisu u stanju da se vrate na svoja stanista. Potpuno je neprihvatljivo za ova nevina bica da svojim zivotima placaju, birokratsku nesposobnost i ljudsku neodgovornost.

Zivotinje koje se nezakonito drze u zatocenistvu, nisu krive za trenutni nemar i nedostatak vladine akcije. Njihova egzekucija donela bi BiH osudu medjunarodne zajednice, nevidjenih razmera.

Pozivam Vas da saradjujete sa organizacijama za zastitu zivotinja u Vasoj zemlji, koje ce Vam pomoci da pronadjete humana i adekvatna resenja za ove zivotinje.

NE CINITE TO, ubijanje ovih lepih nevinih stvorenja izazvace medjunarodni skandal i pokrenuce lavinu reakcija organizacija i aktivista za zastitu zivotinja sirom sveta. Bilo bi to stetno za ekonomiju Vase zemlje, a takodje mozete ocekivati bojkot turizma i trgovine, glasove protiv Vase zemlje, demonstracije ispred Vasih ambasada, turistickih agencija, na internetu i raznim medijima.

Srdacan pozdrav

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please sign with your name and address  
 

The petition

For an immediate effect, please send the above letter to the given address
and sign our online petition, too.

Thank you!

Thank you for saving me!
Please save also my brothers and sisters.

- Miljen -