Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Seven bears in Belitsa Sanctuary are already hibernating

Photo: FB / BearSanctuaryBelitsa

Seven out of 17 bears in the Bear Sanctuary near Belitsa are already having their winter nap, the manager of the park, Dimitar Ivanov, has told BTA. The team's hopes are that this year more bears will go into hibernation, Ivanov pointed out, clarifying that this is also a measure of the quality of life in the park.

Naturally, some of the bears, usually the younger ones, have a harder time falling asleep because they prefer to play outside. Others, who are older and have age-related diseases, hibernate for short time, but there are also those who go to bed and don't come out all winter, Ivanov said.


The team that cares for the inhabitants of the park encourage the bears’ instincts. They have started making small shelters for blind bears or those that have some kind of problem. "Then we started digging these little shelters into a slope and we found that it worked pretty well, as once a bear got into them they started digging further, making a real den," Dimitar Ivanov also said.

Photos: FB / BearSanctuaryBelitsa

English publication: Al. Markov



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

For the 100th time – climbing the tallest peak in the Balkans

It is exactly 100 years this year since the Mount Rila celebrations took place for the first time. Rila is the mountain where some of the longest and fullest rivers on the Balkan peninsula originate – Maritsa, Iskar and Mesta. There are more than 120..

published on 8/2/25 1:00 PM

Why is it that the forest fires come as a surprise every year?

It has been a fortnight since Bulgaria has been burning, or maybe just “smoldering” after the head of the Fire Safety and Population Protection Directorate, Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, together with Interior Minister Daniel Mitov declared..

updated on 8/1/25 2:48 PM

Bulgarian students with top performance at iGeo

Bulgaria’s top geography secondary school students won 4 medals at the world’s most prestigious geography contest, the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo). At the 21 st iGeo, the contestants from Bulgaria won 3 silver and 1 bronze medal – one of..

published on 8/1/25 2:26 PM