Covering 120,000 square meters, the DANCING BEAR PARK Belitsa is the largest bear protection centre of its kind in Europe. It was opened in 2000 and expanded in 2004. FOUR PAWS has rescued 27 dancing bears from lives of misery. In Belitsa they live free of painful nose rings or chains, and visitors can watch the bears rediscover their natural instincts.

The keeping of dancing bears has been illegal in Bulgaria since 1998 ? a judicial end to a long tradition and a huge success for animal welfare. In 2007, FOUR PAWS brought the three remaining registered Bulgarian dancing bears to Belitsa. A further success was the rescue of the three remaining dancing bears in Serbia in 2009. The bears now live in Belitsa.