How Yulia and Zoya ground their teeth on the bars and then learned to live freely: 8 questions about the fate of circus bears

The bus depot in the village of Bilohorodka was rarely in use. No one could say for sure when a van covered in brightly colored fabric appeared there. It seemed to be a circus van. It was heavily rusted. There was a bucket next to it, and someone had poured some sawdust on the bottom of the load space.

Once close to the van, a surprise awaits: Two bears are sitting in the back, each locked in a rusty cage about a square meter in size. The cages could barely fit the animals themselves.

This is exactly what animal rights activists saw when they arrived in the village of Bilohorodka in the Kyiv region in 2015. The owner introduced them to his “stars” — bears Yulia and Zoya. The animals worked in the entertainment industry, and after each performance, the bears used to get back to their cramped cages.

What happened to Yulia and Zoya next? How did the circus life affect the mental health of these animals? In this article, we are looking for answers to questions about the lives of Yulia and Zoya in particular and circus bears in general.

How and where did animal rights activists first encounter Yulia and Zoya? 

“I remember that day very well. It was June. There was a truck at the depot, not a very big one, more like a food truck. The cages were small, so they stood side by side in this van. The owner was also there. It seemed that he was a handler, but it was not clear. He didn’t tell us much,” recalls Taras Boiko, director at FOUR PAWS Ukraine. The organization still has the bear owner’s phone number, but the only thing you can hear by dialing it is “This number is out of service.”

It is not known for certain whether someone noticed the bears and informed animal activists or whether the owner himself contacted them. At the time, an expert on bear behavior, Maryna Shkvyria, was working as a consultant for FOUR PAWS, which supported a bear shelter in the village of Berezivka (Zhytomyr region). “I got a call from Yana Renk, an animal rights activist,” Maryna recalls. “Yana is no longer alive. She was killed by russians in the first days of the full-scale war. She told me about the van with the bears. She said the owner was willing to give them away. I took a taxi there, took a picture, and sent it to the organization’s management. They got it and replied, ‘Let’s take them.’”

Then FOUR PAWS staff came to Bilohorodka and signed an agreement with the owner to transfer the animals under their care. One of the signatures belonged to Taras Boiko, who recalls the words of Yulia and Zoya’s former owner. He was a young man, and he told Taras, “I can’t keep them anymore. They are of little use because they are old and sick. So take them away.”

The bears were loaded into transportation cages and brought to Berezivka. In 10 days, the enclosures were prepared, and the bears were eventually able to go there.

Four years later, Zoya and Yulia were relocated to the BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr, where they live today.

What was the state of the bears’ health?

Back in Berezivka, Zoya had many of her teeth removed, which had been previously damaged, as she ground them against the bars. Yulia had similar issues, so she also had to have her teeth treated.

Zoya was diagnosed with a whole set of problems: liver cirrhosis, bladder inflammation, a broken finger and claw, severe neurological disorder, and epileptic seizures. In addition, they found out that the bear was almost blind.

Both bears exhibited pathological behavior. They had severe stereotypic behavior.

“Yulia shifts from paw to paw and shakes her head,” says Olya Fedoriv, marketing manager at the BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr. “When visitors see this, they are happy that ‘the bear is dancing’. It is important to emphasize that this is a sign of stress, and it is not fun at all.”

Animals often respond to stress by making repetitive movements. Something similar happens to people. When nervous, some unconsciously twiddle their thumbs, some bite their nails or pencils, some rock from side to side. People with autism can repeat monotonous movements under stress. This is called stereotypic behavior. It also occurs in animals living in poor environments and cramped conditions. An animal starts walking in a circle, moving back and forth along the fence, shaking its head, or scratching itself. An elephant, a horse, a bear, a wolf, or a parrot can behave like this. When an animal has something to distract it, the behavior may not interfere with its life. The situation is different when it lives in a confined space and its days are filled with absolutely nothing. In this case, an animal can fixate on this behavior, often to the point of harming itself or ignoring other stimuli. Even when such an animal has a choice of what to do, it will not immediately overcome stereotypic behavior.

It may take a long time for an animal to give up its obsessive behavior and, for example, go exploring the enclosure.

It is usually not possible to completely overcome stereotypic behavior, especially in older animals. However, experts try to at least reduce its manifestations. For this purpose, they use so-called enrichment enclosures. There are special toys that stimulate the animals’ curiosity, make them move, and distract them from the behavior.

Olya Fedoriv shares what enriches the enclosures at Domazhyr, “We have a wooden box inside which an animal caretaker puts food. The bear has a very developed sense of smell. It smells the food and tries to get it. Bears do not break the box. They try to interact with the toy and eventually realize which board needs to be moved to get the food out. There is a wooden drum with a hole on top where an animal caretaker puts the food. The bear knows that he has to spin the drum and put his paw inside to get the food out.

There are bars to climb on, and some can be laid down on. And there are those on which food is laid out, and bears have to get it out. There are wooden balls, and animals love to play with them. If someone shows a strong manifestation of stereotypic behavior, animal caretakers react by throwing nuts with honey to the bears. The bear catches the smell, gets distracted, and goes looking for the nuts.”

What other circus animals have ever lived at Domazhyr? 

Even before Zoya and Yulia, a circus bear named Khrystyna lived in Domazhyr. She had been one of the first residents of the sanctuary. She is no longer there. Khrystyna died last year. However, it’s important to tell her story. Her autopsy showed many severe chronic diseases.

Khrystyna was a Himalayan brown bear. She had beautiful sandy fur. “This subspecies is used in the circus because the bears are small and compact. They are easier to transport and control,” explains Natalia Halayko.

Khrystyna was seized from her owner in August 2017. Natalia recalls, “The bear lived in a traveling circus. The owner traveled all over Ukraine. He transported neglected Khrystyna in a cramped cage. He would put skirts and all kinds of other outfits on her, and she would perform circus tricks. There is a village called Ivano-Frankove not far from us, and he came there with a performance. Back then, the ban on keeping wild animals in traveling circuses was in place. Animal activists, together with the police, seized the bear.”

There was an inflamed area on the animal’s neck, completely without fur, a place from which the collar had not been removed for years. Khrystyna was diagnosed with many chronic diseases. She suffered from arthritis, arthrosis, and had a severe stereotypic behaviour. Khrystyna had glaucoma in one eye, which had to be removed. The bear’s teeth had deteriorated, so the staff bought food for her that she was able to chew.

Khrystyna got used to her enclosure well. She loved to swim and bask in the sun. However, her chronic illnesses still bothered her. Two years ago, Khrystyna began to get very sick and was suffering a lot. At Domazhyr, it was decided to euthanize her. Khrystyna was 27 years old.

Why do circus animals have so many diseases?

When bears are kept in private animal collections, most owners cannot provide adequate nutrition, explains Natalia Halayko, deputy director of the BEAR SANCTUARY Domazhyr. The animals live in cramped cages, and their sedentary lifestyle is harmful to the musculoskeletal system. A circus animal is under constant stress: bright lights, lots of people, noise, applause, music, lots of smells.

Natalia Halayko explains, “It is clear that the bears from circuses were abused in their places of living. They have serious problems with vision, hearing, and severe stereotypic behavior.”

Sometimes in circuses or hunting stations, animals are harmed deliberately. Domazhyr staff does not recall any cases when someone was caught in the act, however, such abuse is clear from the conclusions of veterinarians who examined the bears. Natalia tells us, “Our Zoya is blind. Veterinarians assume that the bear could have been blinded on purpose so that it would not react to bright light. For example, sometimes animals are beaten with sticks on the cervical spine, which disrupts innervation. If we compare the health of a circus bear and an animal that was simply kept in a cage, the health of circus animals is much worse.”

It is not so easy to find out how an animal actually lived before it came to the rehabilitation center. “If an animal is forcibly seized, it is often not even possible to meet the owners, let alone learn in detail about the animal’s life. The owners do not always show up for a removal procedure. Sometimes they say, ‘You can come, and a representative will be there.’ We take the animal and that’s it.”

Bears used in the entertainment industry do not hibernate. This also affects the bear’s health. The processes in its body do not happen in a way that is natural for the species. “In the wild, it can happen that a bear does not finish eating and then does not go to sleep. But this is very rare. Next year, such a bear can go to sleep for the winter. However, in captivity, bears have no choice. They simply are not allowed to sleep year after year. Physiological processes are disrupted. During the winter sleep, the skin on the paws should regenerate, and fat should be burned off little by little until spring. But none of this happens.

In winter, bears don’t eat anything in the wild. In the spring, the animal eats a little, then the mating season begins and it loses weight. The bear starts eating a lot in August. By winter, the animal can increase its weight by up to 40%. In captivity, everything is different. Zoya and Yulia were very thin, and sometimes bears in captivity are overfed, and this also harms them.”

How have Zoya and Yulia settled in at Domazhyr?

Zoya’s enclosure is designed to allow her to move freely. She lives alone. It is dangerous to place her with others. The bears may fight, and this is a big risk for a blind bear.

Yulia is a totally different case. Two years ago, she was transferred from the adaptation enclosure to a big one. Bears Mania and Kvitka live in the neighboring one. “Perhaps Yulia will be able to socialize and live in a large enclosure with Mania and Kvitka,” Natalia hopes. “Mania and Kvitka also used to live separately. Now they eat together and sleep together. As for the relationship between them and Yulia, there are better days and worse ones. We hope that they will become friends. This is the fourth year of socialization. We are taking baby steps.

Socializing bears sometimes takes years. If successful, they live together. This improves their quality of life.”

Does a bear have a personality?

Of course, and what a personality it is! “The bears’ personalities are very different,” says Olya Fedoriv. “Some of our bears are very calm. They walk around slowly, and they are in no hurry. There are also active ones that run around from the early morning, then take a little nap in the afternoon, and then run and play again.”

Zoya is a sensible lady. She enjoys sniffing everything and often lifts her head up to smell the air. Yulia loves to play with the enrichments and demonstrates bizarre poses. Olya Fedoriv even created a special series of posts on social media called Yoga Poses by Yulia. The bear is especially fond of a log suspended on chains. Olya says, “She lays down under the log and starts shaking it with her four paws! Or she likes to sit in the pool. She sits there for a long time. She likes to put her face in the water, and only her eyes are visible. I call her ‘a crocodile’.”

Everyone in Domazhyr has their own preferences. For example, bear Masha is known for her love of tomatoes, and bear Potap loves fish. Zoya’s favorite food is bananas. Yulia is not a picky eater — she likes everything.

How does a bear mind work?

Natalia Halayko explains, “The bear’s intelligence is somewhere on the level of a dog.

The bear has a very good memory. 80% of the bear’s diet consists of plants, so they need to move through bushes where there may be berries or other food. So they create their own routes. Bears think over where to go for food.

Bears raise their cubs very attentively for two or three years. A bear can take in another bear cub if it is an orphan. It happens that a young bear gives birth to cubs and cannot teach them all the skills, then an older bear can take them away.

We went to the Carpathian Mountains and talked to local people. They told us that a bear, having noticed hunters, can go backwards to put tracks in the wrong direction and deceive people. These are truly animals able to think carefully.”

Scientists caution against attributing human traits to an animal. However, this does not mean that a bear feels good in a cage. The discomfort of an animal living in a cramped and poor environment is not only in restrictions of its movement. In such conditions, an animal has little sensory load, and in simple terms, it is terribly bored. This is especially true for animals with high intelligence. And bears are definitely among them.

The enrichment of the enclosures at Domazhyr is both to distract bears from the stereotypic behavior and to allow them some mental gymnastics. They even eat with special mannerism. They have their own ways of savoring their favorite food. Olha shares her observations, “We give them oranges. I’ve noticed more than once that they eat all the flesh and leave the peel. Once we brought watermelons. They pressed lightly from above, the watermelon cracked, they opened it, and ate the inside part. They do not swallow everything at once. They even put an apple on their paw and eat a little bit. However, the bear bites on it two or three times, and the apple is gone.”

What happens after rehabilitation and socialization of bears?

People often ask why the bears are not released from the rehabilitation center into the wild, Natalia says. “There are centers that take care of cubs from the wild, whose mothers have died, for example. They are taught to survive without direct human contact. If an animal is born in captivity and is used to humans, it is a huge risk. Perhaps the bear will cope in the wild. However, it will approach people, and that does not always end well.”

The bears that come to Domazhyr will live here for the rest of their lives. They are to some extent protecting their relatives in captivity. At the sanctuary, people can see bears in conditions close to nature and listen to stories about their fate. After that, it is unlikely that these visitors will have the desire to lock such an animal in a cage, put a skirt or a collar on it.