BBC Budapest Correspondent: "A retirement home for bears"

The three-hectare site offers purpose-built earth-covered dens, which resemble caves, and even swimming pools.

For the bears, it is a significant jump up the bear-property ladder, compared to the narrow cages they lived in previously.

The bears' owner and trainer József Kósa, had been collecting bears no-one wanted for more than 20 years.

But he never had the space or the money to create such luxurious conditions for the bears.

Abandoned by zoos and circuses, or confiscated from smugglers, his animals were put to work on film sets, impersonating the wild bears their ancestors once were.

Conditions were "absolutely unbelievable"

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), the charity that built the sanctuary near Veresegyház village, just north of the capital, Budapest, found them 12 months ago and decided they needed a better home.

WSPA project manager Peter Henderson said: "The conditions these animals have been found in were absolutely unbelievable.

"There were three or four bears to a cage not much bigger than 3m by 3m."

WSPA acknowledge Mr Kósa's efforts in keeping the animals alive and said he never mistreated any of his wild charges.

Mr Henderson said: "Mr Kósa has worked under enormous pressure to keep the animals alive."

He added that some of the bears had never been able to swim in water.

Mr Kósa parted with the bears on condition that he can continue to work with them in the new reservation.

"In many ways, of course, it is better for the bears to move to the new place, but they will still need me. They will not be happy without me," he said.

The bears are being moved to their new home one by one. Once inside the sanctuary, they are protected - and kept inside - by an electric fence.