Visiting Four Paws Bear Sanctuary in Kosovo

While researching for my travels through the Balkan countries, one very interesting place I read about in Kosovo was the Four Paws Bear Sanctuary just ouside Pristina, Kosovo.

So when I finally reached Pristina recently, I had the bear sanctuary in the fore front of my mind as a top adventure. On my second day in Pristina, I headed out there by bus to see some bears.

That adventure turned out to be one of the best things I’ve done in the Balkan countries since I arrived two months ago!

I learned so much about the Four Paws organization, about bears, in general, and about the historical mis-treatment of bears for human entertainment in this region of the world, in particular. I also learned about the bears’ much happier plight in recent years, as the tide has turned away from bear abuse toward bear rescue.

Dozens of bears in several different countries are now housed in large natural enclosures and given medical treatment, proper food, assistance with psychological trauma and mental/physical challenges to steer them back to normal, healthy bear behaviors & life styles.

About Four Paws International

Four Paws is, to quote their website:

“…an international animal welfare organisation committed to encouraging people to treat animals with respect, compassion and understanding. 

Since 1988, FOUR PAWS has helped wild animals kept in captivity, farm animals and pets as well as strays to the right to live a dignified life in an environment suited to their species.”

One of their primary focuses in this region of the world is on rescuing bears. Four Paws operates in several countries and has seven bear sanctuaries to date. They also have big cat sanctuaries and help many other species of wild animals.

Their first bear sanctuary was opened in Austria in 1998 and became the model for subsequent bear sanctuaries.

Four Paws Bear Sanctuary near Pristina – Kosovo

Four Paws Bear Sanctuary outside of Pristina, Kosovo, opened in 2013 with one bear they named Kassandra. Since then, they’ve rescued a total of 20 bears, most of whom were being held in cages by restaurant owners in Kosovo and Albania for clients’ entertainment.

Some of these poor bears were held in small cages for 10-15 years, fed completely incorrect food and often forced to drink alcohol. Many of the bears were also completely exposed to the elements with no protection – sun & heat, rain, snow – year-round.

All of these things – confinement in small cages, improper food, lack of weather protection & mistreatment – caused the bears to develop greatly deteriorated physical & mental health. Many created coping habits like chewing on cages and pacing back n forth. Many also had rotten teeth and injured paws. Some had gone blind.

Bears naturally roam over big territories, searching for food all day long, and also hybernate for several months each winter. While being confined in small cages, they obviously can’t go about their normal life styles.

Very happily for 20 bears at the sanctuary, they now lead a nearly normal lifestyle. They all have a large open natural enclosure to roam as well as ponds to swim in and a cave or covered enclosure to escape the elements and to hybernate. Many bears have taken to hybernating in winters for the first time in their lives.

They’ve also had their teeth fixed. Many are given food-finding challenges to encourage them to forage for food again.

My Visit to Bear Sanctuary Pristina

The day I visited, I was super lucky to watch 14 of the 20 bears, despite the broiling heat in mid-August during the awful European heat wave of 2019.

I got to watch bears swim, groom each other and walk around.

Several of them intentionally came over to ‘meet’ me when I showed up and softly greeted them with warm ‘hello’s. Each one got themselves into a position down wind of me so they could sniff me out. I guess I smelled ok to them, since most of them stayed nearby and none of them freaked out. Lol

Another wonderful thing about this bear sanctuary is that the story of each bear is explained to visitors. Small story plaques tell how & when each bear was rescued, his specific character, habits and interests.

I also found it really interesting to see the bear’s distinct colorings. A few bears are blonde, a few light brown or honey-colored and a couple dark brown. They also have rather different faces and quite different sizes.

Perhaps the most interesting bears for me were the three sibling bears who were rescued together when they were just one month old. They’ve lived together at the bear sanctuary ever since. Each one is a different color and size. And each has distinct habits. 

The largest sibling absolutely loves grooming his siblings’ ears in a very curious manner. He puts his entire mouth over one ear, makes a loud, throaty groaning noise, drools saliva and gets those ears sopping wet!

The medium-size sibling generally sticks close by big brother, with his ear in a mouth. But the smallest of the three seems to prefer staying alone, away from the other two, as well as away from human visitors most of the time.

I really enjoyed watching the strange grooming procedure and photographing them, especially when all three got together briefly for a mutual ear-grooming party.

Perhaps unfortunately, none of these bears can ever be returned to the wild because they have no fear of humans due to being raised by people. That means if they were released, they’d go to places where people live in search of food. Clearly this would cause a lot of problems, probably leading to the bears being killed.

So the bears will live out their lives in the Bear Sanctuary. But at least they have near-normal living conditions and humane treatment.

I highly recommend visiting Four Paws Bear Sanctuary in Kosovo if you’re traveling in this region. It’s a fantastic learning experience and equally wonderful getting to watch bears.

There are also bear sanctuaries in Bulgaria, Austria and …

I’m hoping to visit the bear sanctuary in Bulgaria soon too. I’ll be writing about it when I go!

How to get to Four Paws Bear Sanctuary near Pristina

The bear sanctuary is located just 20 km / 12 miles southeast of downtown Prisitina, on the edge of Lake Badovac and near Mramor village. It’s a 30 minute drive.

By car –

Traveling by car is the fastest and easiest way to reach the bear sanctuary. If you’re lucky enough to have a car or else to hire a taxi, getting there will be a breeze. Just look it up on Google maps or your GPS and head on over.

By pubic bus –

It’s also fairly easy to reach the bear sanctuary by bus. They leave regularly throughout the day from Pristina’s main bus station. Take the bus heading to Gjilan and tell the driver you’re going to the bear sanctuary or Mramor village.

There are just two ‘glitches’ that make the trip by bus much longer than by car.

First of all, you have to get to the bus station, which is outside of town. Secondly, after you get off the bus near the lake, you have to walk 2.7 km around the lake and up a road to the sanctuary. It’s a 30-40 minute walk.

The walk is fairly pleasant, along the lake and hills, and is mostly flat…as long as it’s not broiling hot like the day I went (38 C), it’s easy-peasy.

To return to Pristina, just walk back out to the road and wait for a bus. Supposedly they pass every 20 minutes.

Visitor Information

You can find all the information about Four Paws and the Pristina bear sanctuary at their website here. Meanwhile, here are the basics –

Opening hours – April to October = 9 am – 6 pm / Nov to March = 10 am – 7 pm

Cost – 2 Euro

Facilities – restaurant, educational center, gift/souvenir shop

Note that all proceeds from purchases at the gift shop go to support the bears. You can also make donations. Every little bit counts!

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