Daina and Antanas Bosas Horrified After Being Told to Kill Three Bears and Seven Lynxes at Gamtos Perlas

A letter telling Daina and Antanas Bosas to kill three bears and seven lynxes at Gamtos Perlas has left the couple horrified. Daina Bosas said the animals must either be euthanized or transferred to facilities that have the legal right and suitable conditions to keep them.

She said the couple offered to hand the animals over to the environmental authorities and asked them to take the animals wherever they would be better cared for. The response, she said, was that the authorities would not do so. The couple also contacted Kaunas Zoo, but it did not need the animals. According to Bosas, no facility in Lithuania has the conditions required under the new rules.

The rules prohibit keeping and breeding wild animals, but Bosas stressed that the bears and lynxes were born before the legislation took effect and had lived at Gamtos Perlas. She pointed to an earlier case involving wolves at the park, saying they were allowed to remain until they died naturally. She asked why the same exception could not apply to a female bear and two cubs born there, as well as the other animals.

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Either take them and transport them wherever they will be better off, or allow them to live peacefully in their enclosures at Gamtos Perlas until they die.

Bosas criticized what she described as an interpretation of animal-welfare law that permits healthy animals to be killed. She said the lynxes have healthy, shining coats and the bears are not being removed because they harmed anyone. Instead, the dispute concerns enclosures that meet older standards but are considered too small under the new rules.

She said the company receives daily fines of 900 or 300 euros and visits from bailiffs. The pressure, she argued, could drive a less resilient person to kill the animals with a gun or poison. Antanas Bosas told Delfi that the couple has tried to resolve the issue for a year and a half. He said he feels like a squirrel running in a wheel as officials point to rules approved by the ministry.

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I feel like a squirrel running in a wheel.