Feature: Abused bears find heaven in Ukraine rescue center

Circus bear Olya, almost blind after 10 years of traveling and performing across the country, is now a happy pensioner in a rescue center near Kiev.

Olya gets her treats of fruit, fish and honey in a 10,000-sq-meter afforested habitat, along with four fellow brown bears, who had suffered severe abuses in private captivity.

Founded in 2012, Nadiya center is located in Berezivka, a village about 160 kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital, and caters to bears' natural needs.

"Since moving to her new home, Olya is gradually recovering from traumas of abuse, and her fear of people is easing," said Marina Shkvyrya, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology under the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who takes care of Olya.

Shkvyrya explained that animal handlers in some circuses use laser to burn bears' eyes to make them almost blind and easier to control.

Apart from Olya, another three bears are treated for their wounds from years of being used as training baits for hunting dogs, she said.

Six-year-old Masha was rescued from a dog training center in September 2013, with an urgent need of veterinary care. She was so traumatized that each time she heard a dog barking, she would shudder and become extremely nervous.

"Our organization learned about Masha, and tried to rescue her. But she was hidden away from us. However, we still managed to save her," said Vladimir Kostyuchenko, an animal keeper in Nadiya.

The poor animal was taken to the rehabilitation sanctuary without a tail, which was bitten off by a dog in an attack. Her neck was wrapped with a heavy chain and her paws were bleeding from wounds.

"Masha's paws were intentionally damaged by the owner of the training center, to make her unable to fight the dogs," Kostyuchenko said.

Although bear baiting is officially banned in Ukraine, wild animals are still used as training objects in illegal canine centers, because the country's law does not provide a clear legal procedure to impose punishment for animal cruelty.

Masha, Olya and three other rescued bears -- Groshyk, Yulya and Nastya, who found a safe heaven in the rehabilitation center, will live the rest of their life in peace.

The animal keepers of the sanctuary designed the conditions close to natural habitat so that the bears can even hibernate in winter.

To get food, the bears should show their resourcefulness as their dinner, which consists of fruits, fish and honey, is not served by keepers, but hidden all around the habitat, surrounded by protective fences.

Nadiya center closely cooperates with the international animal protecting organization Four Paws and the Ukrainian authorities to rescue bears from places of illegal detention, where the animals are suffering from cruelty. Endit