Photo: Zdeněk Zajíček, Czech Radio
If you’ve ever visited the UNESCO-listed castle in the picturesque South Bohemian town of Český Krumlov, you can’t have failed to notice the brown bears living in the former moat of the castle complex. These ursine dwellers won’t be on display for too much longer however – after years of campaigning by animal welfare organisations, the National Heritage Institute has decided to end the centuries-long tradition by 2030. Český Krumlov is planning to seek an exemption.
The keeping of bears at Czech castles has been a tradition since at least the second half of the 16th century. But in recent years, animal welfare organisations such as Bears in Mind, Four Paws, and the German Foundation for Bears (Stiftung für Bären) have received numerous alerts, usually from tourists visiting the castles, about bears being kept in inappropriate conditions.
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Authors: Anna Fodor, Petr Kubát, Source:iROZHLAS.cz