Animal Refuge Makes Room for a Retired Circus Bear

There was nothing for 14-year-old Masha to do when the camera started snapping pictures but grin and bear it.

But then, her training as a circus performer probably prepared her for such attention. Soon the 450-pound bear was standing on her hind legs and holding up her right front paw, taking a short break from lumbering around in her new home: a cage at the Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest.

The European brown bear was adjusting Sunday to her new surroundings, one day after her arrival in Southern California. On Saturday morning, snacking contentedly on bagels, Masha touched down on a flight from New York and began the business of retiring from her old performing job, said officials at the waystation--a private, nonprofit wildlife refuge.

The bear’s career nearly came to an unhappy end a few months ago, when she was scheduled to be destroyed after biting her trainer. But about six weeks ago, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Animalport in New York contacted the Wildlife Waystation.

“There was never a question whether we could or couldn’t” keep Masha, said Martine Colette, president and founder of the waystation. “We never turn away an animal in need.”

Waystation Vice President Jan Brown said Masha, who worked for an East Coast-based circus, was not particularly vicious and did not require extra security precautions. “This is not a dangerous, man-eating” bear, she said. Brown said circus trainers watch carefully for indications that bears are ready to be retired from performing.

The middle-aged Masha, who is probably a cousin of the California grizzly, is currently being quarantined for a few weeks before she moves to a bear enclosure now under construction. Colette said Masha is a fairly sociable bear and has already begun meeting some of her new companions.

“She is being introduced now to other bears,” including two that are in quarantine area with her, Colette said.

Wildlife Waystation, which sits on a 160-acre Lake View Terrace site, celebrated its 15th anniversary Sunday. It has taken in wild and exotic animals ranging from a baby hummingbird the size of a pea to full-grown elephants. The waystation relocates the animals to zoos or returns them to the wild whenever possible. But as a circus-raised bear, Masha will not be released, Brown said.

The waystation operates on donations and money made from twice-monthly tours of the site.