Ex-Soviet Circus Trainer in U.S. Jail Over Bears
The bears weighed less than half their normal weights when they were discovered last week, their paws bloody from pacing across a fiberglass floor in the back of the truck.
Aleksandr Sergeivich Shelkovnikov, 42, described by investigators as a freelance trainer who worked on contract for several small circuses, faced charges including felony cruelty to animals as well as assault and battery on his business partner, Hewett said.
Shelkovnikov was a native of the former Soviet republic of Georgia and could not produce any visa papers, the sheriff said. Officials are trying to determine if Shelkovnikov entered the United States illegally, he added.
The three bears were getting a diet of dog food and doughnuts after being taken in by G.W. Exotic animal park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.
"They need lots of fatty things to get blubber put on them," said Joe Schreibvogel, the animal park's owner.
"Even in Oklahoma, bears go into some form of hibernation. We have to put the body mass on quick before that happens because they don't have the body mass to lose," he said.
Hewett said the bears were discovered last Friday in Rosedale, about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Oklahoma City, when a deputy answered a call from Shelkovnikov's partner asking for help because she feared he would beat her.
The two male bears, Frank and Tesh, weighed only 158 pounds (72 kilograms) and 275 pounds (125 kilograms) respectively, but should weigh between 600 and 700 pounds (272 and 318 kilograms), Schreibvogel said. The female, named Lyra, weighed only 63 pounds (29 kilograms) instead of around 400 pounds (181 kilograms).
"We don't know exactly what kind of abuse they went through, but whenever the oldest bear does something he thinks is wrong, he bites his own front legs, and that's usually a sign of electric shock training," Schreibvogel said.