After the Hotnews.ro article on Tuesday about abused Carpathian bears, things seemed to change for a minute.

But only for a minute: local public servants in the small village of Mandra came against the "Free the bears from inns and restaurants " campaign. Ion Valentin Vlad, owner of the five-year old male bear demanded 700 euros for the release of the beast from the miserable pen he was held in.

Cristina Lapis, head of the Libearty organization, denounces the motionless local authorities: "I won't pay a dime because it would encourage these practices. The authorities are the ones who should intervene to free the animal, kept in such awful conditions".

Exactly at 10:00 hours, the hour for the authorities' inspection, Vlad received a facsimile from the Environment Guard, naming him as owner and custodian of the bear.

The reason rendered the audience speechless: "In these conditions, the bear is not a threat for humans".

According to the HotNews.ro reporter in Mandra, the bear is kept in an iron bars cage of ten square meters at most, hidden behind farming equipment.

"I won't give it away and that's all. I'm going to open a Zoo and that's why I keep it. I'd rather pay fines than give it up", says Valentin Ion, company manager.