Balkan criminal's starving bear released for new life in France

BOSNIA: A BOSNIAN bear that almost starved to death after being kept as a pet by a local gangster was heading for a new life of relative luxury in France yesterday. The gangster had been keen to emulate famous Balkan criminals who see keeping wild animals as proof of machismo.

Eight-year-old Miljen was claimed by a Bosnian mobster when his mother was shot dead by hunters, but wasted away in a cage behind a hotel in Prijedor town after his owner was jailed for people-trafficking and prostitution.

Residents of the impoverished town fed the animal bread to keep him alive but, when he was spotted by a Serb actor making a film in the area, he weighed only 75kg - one-third of the average weight for Balkan brown bears.

"I was bringing him bread and that was enough for him not to die," said Prijedor resident Darko Sevic, adding that he could only afford to buy him one loaf a day.

Actor Miljenko Kljakovic told Bosnian animal protection group Noa about the bear and it contacted colleagues at the French organisation Respectons.

Attempts to transfer him to a sanctuary in Normandy almost foundered in a blizzard of Balkan bureaucracy, until officials agreed to let him travel to France if it could be proved that he was in reasonable health. Local people chipped in to buy food for Miljen, to fatten him up and prepare him to pass his medical.

"This is a big moment," said Patrick Sacco of Respectons, as Miljen was setting off for Normandy, where two female bears await him. "He will, probably for the first time, meet animals like him, because for eight years he was always alone in his cage."

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times