Global animal welfare NGO Four Paws launched a petition to save four bears from alleged bad living conditions in Slovenia.

Footage shows the animals roaming inside their steel cages. Vegetables were strewn on the floor, and one of the shelters had a muddy puddle in the middle.

The NGO said the four bears named Masha, Mici, Mitko, and Tim, are being kept at restaurants and a private zoo for entertainment.

They said the cages are confined in small, barren cages with minimal furnishings.

It said in a statement: 'These four animals are enduring severe hardships due to the cruel conditions in which they are kept at three restaurants and a private zoo in Slovenia.

'Despite repeated calls from Four Paws to address these issues, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning and its veterinary inspectors have failed to act for over two years.

'Four Paws condemns this inaction and urges the government to finally confiscate Masha, Mici, Mitko, and Tim.

'The animal welfare organisation has offered to relocate them to the Baerenwald Arbesbach, Four Paws' bear sanctuary in the Waldviertel region [Austria].'

Four Paws director Eva Rosenberg said: 'Such conditions in the heart of Europe are shocking. It is heartbreaking to see these animals trapped in filthy, barren enclosures with their needs grossly neglected.

'By turning a blind eye to this cruelty, the Slovenian authorities are prolonging the suffering of Masha, Mici, Mitko, and Tim.

'They urgently need veterinary care and should be relocated to a bear sanctuary such as Baerenwald Arbesbach.'

Professor Djuro Huber from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, condemned the conditions in which the four bears are kept, stating that they are living in deplorable circumstances.

He said: 'They lead miserable lives and are permanently confined. Their care is limited to the provision of unsuitable food.

'My recommendation is to close all four outdated facilities and transfer the bears to an appropriate bear sanctuary.'