Masha and Dasha from the “hellish” zoo of Rostov never slept in winter

Bears Masha and Dasha, who moved to the Rostov Zoo, have never hibernated before. This was told by the director of the institution Yulia Soboleva, citing information from the former owner of the animals.

According to the owner, the bears never slept in the winter. I’m sure they’ll sleep at the zoo. Not exactly in this winter season. Maybe next time, after the adaptation. For bears, this is very important, because winter sleep is laid down by nature, Yulia Soboleva said.

Masha and Dasha moved to Rostov Zoo on October 6. Before that, they lived for several years in a zoo on Malinovsky Avenue. The animals have been there since 2019. According to one version, one of the bears the former owner bought in the circus-chapito.

As it became known to Donday, bears appeared at the private owner even before the introduction of legislative restrictions on the maintenance of wild animals. Masha and Dasha lived in cramped open-air enclosures on a site near the aqua complex.

At the same time, the health of predators did not cause concern among specialists. Despite the conditions they were in, the bears were healthy.

Now for Masha and Dasha, aviaries with a swimming pool and a spacious walking area were prepared. The zoo also equipped a den and a feed cage and additionally insulated the premises.

Breeding of brown bears in the institution is not yet planned. As Yulia Soboleva explained, free space for keeping new animals in the zoo is not enough.

If our zoo didn't have an existing enclosure, there's no way we could take in a second bear. Creating conditions for keeping bears is very difficult. We do not consider the issue of offspring, because we cannot breed bears - there is not enough space for their maintenance, the director of the zoo said.