Antoni Gucwinski, as well known in Poland as Sir David Attenborough is in the UK, has been sued by an animal protection NGO for cruelty to a brown bear.


Gucwinski and his wife reigned supreme in the Wroclaw Zoo, southwestern Poland for 40 years, and were hosts of an immensely popular tv program on zoo animals for over 30 years. Now retired, the renowned naturalist and animal lover has been sued by the Viva! Action for Animals NGO for cruelty to a brown bear.


“This is a very important ruling,” says Cezary Wyszynski from the Viva! Foundation. “Wroclaw courts were emotional and biased in their assessment of the case. The Supreme Court stood on our side. If it backed the statement that we have to do with cruelty to animals only when it is intentional, then everybody would claim they did not want to inflict pain.”


The Supreme Court has just overturned an earlier ruling which declared him not guilty. The story dates back to 1997, when Gucwinski, then director of the Wroclaw Zoo,  ordered a bear named Mago to be closed in a virtual prison bunker, because he mated with his sister. The bear was not let out of his cramped cell for almost 10 years.


In 2006, when Viva! stepped in, Director Gucwinski claimed he had no money to improve the animal’s lot – he did not get any funds from the city authorities to expand the bear enclosure and had to keep him because other zoos did not want the bear.


Earlier court rulings said the former Wroclaw Zoo director did not want to harm the bear and therefore could not be held guilty. The Supreme Court has overturned this argument. (kk/mmj)