Bulgarians envy bear necessities Tue Jul 23, 6:28 AM ET By Anna Mudeva
BELITSA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - The residents of this tiny Bulgarian mountain town are convinced it is better to be a dancing bear than a person.
Each of the six bears, sheltered in a park near Belitsa built by French actress Brigitte Bardot's animal rights foundation, eats $200 (128 pounds) worth of food a month. Average incomes in the Balkan country hover between $50 and $130 a month.
A year after former King Simeon II became Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, pledging a better life for all in 800 days, the bears are envied and disappointment prevails. The cabinet took office on July 24, 2001.
"I'd rather be a bear in Bulgaria," said Belitsa's 47-year-old mayor Hasan Ilan.
"Bears eat only high quality bananas, pears, grapes and also honey and meat. We can only dream of such food," said Ilan.
The Vienna-based Four Paws foundation backed by Bardot spent some $250,000 on the one-hectare park for the six bears.
They paid $5,000 per bear to the owners, who had taught the animals to dance by forcing them to walk on hot coals.
Ilan said the foundation would build a second six-hectare park by November, giving a temporary job to some 50 people and housing another 16 bears.
Locals are happy the park will attract tourists, but wonder why the West is keener to help the bears than the people and question the costs of pleasing foreigners. Full Story: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020723/od_uk_nm/oukoe_bulgaria_bears_king_1
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