The zoo inspector announced the critical condition of the bears abandoned in Dagestan

Brown bears Misha and Grisha, abandoned in a locked cage in the Levashinsky district of Dagestan, are in critical condition. This was reported to Izvestia on July 1 by Solmaz Begova, zoo inspector of the North Caucasus Regional Department of Rosprirodnadzor.

"My heart is bleeding, these bears are in a cage, and at the same time they are watching these green mountains, trees, bushes, plants that they cannot get into. <...> Bears should not be in a metal structure that heats up so much in the heat. They should have a closed house where they can hide from the eyes of onlookers. A lot of people come to watch and take pictures. Sounds, laughter, different smells are stressful for a bear," she stressed.

The zoo inspector noted that tourists feed the animals with bread, cookies and sweets, while the bears' diet should include fish, meat, berries, fruits, grass and insects. At the same time, the predators have no one who can constantly take care of them.

"On my first visit, I saw that the bears were hideously dirty. They were covered in coils, excrement, the cage was completely polluted, flies were flying, the stench, it was impossible to approach," Begova added.

Omar Abdulzhalilov, the former owner of the bears, says that the animals came to him "like in a fairy tale" in 2019. The man took the cubs born in captivity from a restaurant in Derbent at the age of six months so that the male would not kill them during the breeding season.

Abdulzhalilov built a cage made of iron rods on his land. For several years, the animals have attracted tourists and local schoolchildren. In 2023, the court decided to confiscate the predators, but the bailiffs still have not executed the decision. According to the man, there is simply nowhere to take the predators — for this reason they still live on his property.

According to Abdulzhalilov, the animals do not starve and receive all the necessary care. In turn, the volunteers say that the condition of the bears is deplorable — in their opinion, the animals do not eat enough and suffer from crowding, thirst and heat.

Angela Makarova, director of the Dino Animal Protection Foundation and Shelter, announced on May 26 that two lionesses and a brown bear can be seen again in the aviaries of the shelter in Volgograd after surgery. Previously, the animals were operated on by specialists from the Moscow Zoo. Makarova noted that after the operations, all the animals feel well, they have been prescribed a course of vitamins.