The Bear Sanctuary Prishtina [1] is a sanctuary for rescued brown bears in Kosovo 22 km close to the city of Prishtina.
Contents
The Bear Sanctuary Prishtina [1] is a sanctuary for rescued brown bears in Kosovo 22 km close to the city of Prishtina.
For many years, there was no law against keeping brown bears in Kosovo. All privately kept brown bears lived in small cages at restaurants. They were born mostly in the forests of Kosovo or Albania and snatched from their mothers by animal dealers. As restaurant bears they were supposed to attract customers, and thus profit, for their owners. In November 2010, when it became illegal to keep bears privately, there was a need for a national park as a new home for the restaurant bears rescued from captivity. [2]
The Bear Sanctuary Prishtina was founded in 2013 by Four Paws in collaboration with KFOR, the Municipality of Pristina, and the Ministry of Environment [3] in Kosovo. The sanctuary provides species-appropriate place for all "restaurant bears", who now enjoy their life in large enclosures resembling the bears’ natural habitat.
The Bear Sanctuary Prishtina has currently in care 20 brown bears (as of January 2020). These "restaurant bears" had been tracked down and registered by the government of Kosovo during the last few years and have been rescued in 2013. [4]
Two restaurant bears, named Rambo and Luta, could not be saved, because their proprietors killed the bears only hours before the rescue team arrived. [5]
The sanctuary is built on an area of sixteen hectares. In addition to the existing facilities, a new environmental education center "Thesaret e Natyrës" is opened in 2018 in order to improve the public attention to animal welfare and environmental issues in Kosovo. [6]
Kosovo Polje or Fushë Kosova, is a town and municipality located in the District of Pristina in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Kosovo Polje has 12,919 inhabitants, while the municipality has 33,977 inhabitants.
The District of Pristina is a district in Kosovo. Its seat is the capital city of Pristina. It consists of eight municipalities and 298 villages. According to the 2011 census, the total population of the district is 477,312.
The University of Pristina is a public university located in Pristina, Kosovo. It is the institution that emerged after the disestablishment of the University of Pristina (1969–1999) as a result of the Kosovo War. The inauguration of the university was a historical occurrence not only for the people of Kosovo, but for the whole Albanian nation. On 15 February, the solemn Parliament session took place, which is also proclaimed as The University of Pristina's Day. In the composition of the newly established University of Pristina were faculties with their headquarters in Pristina: the Faculty of Philosophy, Faculty of Law and Economics, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Medicine. Now the University of Pristina has 17 faculties, of which 14 are academic faculties and 3 are faculties of applied sciences. Contained within the emblem is a translation of the name into Latin, Universitas Studiorum Prishtiniensis.
Jeton Neziraj is a playwright from Kosovo. He was the Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Kosovo and now he is the Director of Qendra Multimedia, a cultural production company based in Prishtina.
RIT Kosovo, formerly known as the American University in Kosovo, is a private university located in the Germia district of Pristina, Kosovo. The university was established in 2002 and is part of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area.
Pristina is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district.
Transport in Kosovo consists of transport by land and air. After the Kosovo's independence, improvements to the road infrastructure, urban transport, rail transport and air travel have all led to a vast improvement in transportation. These upgrades have played a key role in supporting Kosovo's economy.
Part of a series of articles upon Archaeology of Kosovo
The Swiss Diamond Hotel Prishtina is a luxury five star Hotel in Pristina, Kosovo. It is located on Sheshi Nëna Terezë, the main boulevard in the central district of the city.
Prishtina is the epicenter of sport in Kosovo, where activity is organized across amateur and professional levels, sport organizations and clubs, regulated by the Kosovo Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. Prishtina is known for their success in Sports such as Football, Boxing, Basketball and Futsal. They compete for five seasons in the Yugoslav First League between 1983 and 1988 in which their best finish came in their first ever season in 1983-84 finishing in 8th place. In the same season they reached the Mitropa Cup finals of 1983-84, were FC Prishtina finished Runners up to Eisenstadt from Austria. as well as reaching the semifinals in the Yugoslav Cup in 1987-88.
The Bazaar of Prishtina, Kosovo, was the core merchandising center of the Old Prishtina since the 15th century, when it was built. It played a significant role in the physical, economic, and social development of Pristina. The Old Bazaar was destroyed during the 1950s and 1960s, following the modernization slogan of "Destroy the old, build the new". In its place, buildings of Kosovo Assembly, Municipality of Prishtina, PTT, and Brotherhood and Unity socialist square were built. Nowadays, instead of PTT building resides the Government of Kosovo building. Only few historical buildings, such as the Bazaar Mosque and ruins of the Bazaar Hammam have remained from the Bazaar complex. Since then, Prishtina has lost part of its identity, and its cultural heritage has been scattered.
Pristina's transport forms the hub of road, rail and air networks in Kosovo. The city's buses, trains and planes together all serve to maintain a high level of connectivity between Pristina many different districts and beyond. An analysis by the Traffic Police has shown that from 240,000 cars registered in Kosovo, around 100,000 cars are from the District of Pristina.
Fairs in Pristina started since the medieval period, at the time when it was famous for its annual trade fairs and its goat hide and goat hair articles. Pristina always had a development in trading due to its position in the Balkan trade routes. Despite that fact, Pristina, or Kosovo in general, is not known for occurrence of fairs. With the development of culture and especially after the last war in 1999, Pristina has had progress on holding these kinds of events.
Tourism in Pristina attracted 36,186 foreign visitors in 2012, which represents 74.2% of all visitors that visited Kosovo during that year. Foreign visitors mostly come from countries like Albania, Turkey, Germany, United States, Slovenia and North Macedonia, but also from other countries. Some of the most visited places in Pristina are Batllava Lake and Gadime Marble Cave, which are also among the most visited places in Kosovo.
Palace of Youth and Sports, formerly named Boro and Ramiz, is a multi-purpose hall located in Pristina, Kosovo. It includes two indoor arenas, the larger of which had a capacity of 8,000 spectators but is currently out of use, and the smaller in-use with a capacity of 2,800 spectators. It also includes a shopping mall, indoor parking, two convention halls and a library. The building in its entirety measures over 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft).
Universiteti i Mitrovicёs "Isa Boletini" is a public university located in the city of Mitrovica, Kosovo.
The Jashar Pasha Mosque is a historical mosque in Prishtina, Kosovo. The mosque was built in 1834 by the then mayor of Skopje, Mehmet Yasar.
Four Paws is a global animal welfare organisation based in Vienna, Austria. It focuses on improving the living conditions of animals under direct human influence, by revealing suffering, rescuing animals in need, and protecting them.
The Bear Sanctuary Domazhyr is a national park and bear protected area in Ukraine that was founded in 2013 by an animal welfare organization Four Paws due to the abuse of bears for baiting and using illegally for dog fights on hunting stations.
Bear Sanctuary Belitsa is a project run by Four Paws and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, near the town of Belitsa in southwest Bulgaria, which provides mistreated and neglected brown bears with a home.
