In October 2025, a Bear Alert reached us of the poor living conditions of an old female brown bear named Stana, housed in a Serbian zoo. She lived alone in a small barren concrete enclosure. As we had been cooperating with Serbian animal welfare organization ARKA since the late 90s helping them with the Serbian dancing bears during that time, we reached out for their help again and suggested the possible placement of bear Stana at their Banoštor bear shelter near Novi Sad.

ARKA agreed to take Stana if Bears in Mind could help them financially with preparations and the improvement of the bear enclosure, specifically serving the needs of such an elderly bear, see photos below. So we did and ARKA formally started the process together with the zoo and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Provincial Inspection and the Provincial Institute for Nature Conservation.

In the meantime, we learned that Stana had been confiscated from her previous private owner in 2022 together with her sister Mara, where she lived under appalling conditions in a 4x5m cage for 30 years. After confiscation, both bears were placed in the zoo by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Unfortunately, bear Mara passed away and Stana remained alone for several years.

In preparation of Stana her relocation, many months passed and nothing was heard from the Ministry or Palic Zoo, until well into 2026 when finally the CITES permit was issued and veterinary inspection completed. The transportation of Stana was planned early September, but we were all a bit concerned and well aware of the risks of this relocation due to her age and fragile health (especially sedating her). However, leaving her in the concrete pit was not an option. Fortunately, on the day of transport early September 2026, she walked right into the transport crate without sedation and could be moved to Banoštor quickly, a two hours’ drive.

Everything went well and shortly after getting out of the transport crate, Stana ate grapes, plums, apples, walnuts, and other fruit that was offered to her. In her new enclosure, she waited until she was alone before getting into the pool to cool off, and in the evening, for the first time in her 34 years of life spent on concrete, she dug a hole in the ground herself, placed bedding made of dry grass in it, and settled down comfortably to spend her first night in her new safe home.

We thank ARKA Association for all their hard work under difficult circumstances and their big heart for bears in need!