Masha

I met someone today.  He's gorgeous.  An absolute dreamboat.  Soft brown hair, beautiful brown eyes... He's a little immature for me at the moment, but I feel that in a few years he'll be quite good at providing for his mate.  I think Dad would approve, because I'm pretty sure he's an excellent fisherman.

His name is Masha, and he's a 4 month old bear cub.

I'd heard that you could find bears on leashes in Russia, and some of my friends here had seen them a few months ago, but I had yet to encounter any myself.  But the weather has finally  (knock on wood) taken a serious turn for the better, and as the days get longer and sunnier and warmer, the tourists are beginning to come out of the wood work.  So have the tourist traps, the canal rides, and the photo-opportunities.

Evan and I met Masha on a bridge behind the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.  This bridge is highly frequented because it is right next to the Souvenir Market, directly behind the Sobor, and on most days you will find several newlywed couples there. 

 It's a tradition in Russia that on your wedding day you (As a couple) run around having your photos taken in front of all the major landmarks...this includes churches, statues, bridges, palaces, etc...there's a lot of ground to cover.  So on pretty much every weekend (even in the middle of winter) you'll see limousines lined up, and couples having pictures taken. 

It's also a tradition in St Pete (and they have similar traditions in Moscow) that the newlyweds lock a padlock onto the bridge behind the Church on the Spilled Blood, and then throw the key away into the river below. 

 This represents that their marriage/love will not be broken, or that noone else will be able to unlock the brides heart, or something like that.

This photo here is just one of the padlocks -the bridge is covered in them.  This one is quite large, and has the names of the bride and groom engraved in it, as well as their day of marriage.  Pretty cute idea really.  This photo doesn't show it, but the bridge is COVERED in these.

Anyway, the bridge has quite a high level of foot traffic, and today for the first time I saw a bear.

We both mistook him for a dog at first, wandering around on his little tiny muzzle at his (owners?) feet.  When I figured out he was a bear however, I had to go over and say hello.

I felt a little guilty handing over 100 rubles (just over $3) to have my photo taken with the little dear.  I'm not a huge fan of the idea that this little guy was taken from his mother 

and is now kept on the end of a leash to be picked up by tourists and make money.  I remember reading "The Deliverance of the Dancing Bears" when I was little, and it seems if nothing else, like a very blatantly touristy thing to do, and I've been trying to live here and be a real student, not seem like an ignorant tourist.

But I'm pretty sure I'll probably never get the chance to hold a brown bear again, or at least not without risking serious harm to myself...(Masha is one Latin name away from being the same bear as a Grizzly).

And he was so darn cute, the poor little dear.

Anyway, here's a photo of me with him....

It's such an awkward photo... Poor little Masha is clearly thinking "putmedownputmedownputmedownputmedown".   He was making funny little grunty noises too.  

I wanted to hold him more firmly, with my hand under his rump like a baby so he'd be more comfortable, but that was how the guy gave him to us to hold, and I'm no bear expert.  I know how to pick up a koala (by the wrists -if you pick them up by the ribcage you can crush and kill them), but a koala isn't even a bear, so that doesn't count.

I volunteered at a zoo for a week back in Cairns, and after having to repeatedly tell stupid tourists not to readjust their grips on baby crocodiles or snakes etc, because it's dangerous, and they weren't holding them correctly,  I didn't want to mess with Masha, (although I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do too much damage, the little darling...) but it would have been nice to be able to hold him in a way that didn't leave him dangling loose and sadly like he is in the photo.

But I guess that's the kind of photo you get -it would be silly, and maybe even wrong on some level, to get a really cute and happy photo with a little bear that's been taken from his mum at such a young age and kept on a leash.  This is real.

Although, the guy who was leading him around seemed pretty gentle with him, and nice to Masha. I don't want to be naive, sure, it could just be a public front, but he seemed to care about the little guy.  And at least he didn't have a ring through his nose (Masha, not the trainer).  But I don't know exactly how one goes about obtaining a baby bear, or what you do with it when it gets older.... it might be a legit business full of care and love, or it might be a sad sad story that I don't want to research.

At the very least I hope to run into Masha again -he was way too cute, and seemed quite frolick-y when not in the hands of an inexpert handler. <3

Loves!