Political Asylum

A former Deaf animal trainer with the Moscow Circus was granted political asylum to remain in the United States almost forty years ago.. A Leningrad native whose father was killed by a German sniper during the siege in WWII, was the only Deaf active in the local Communist Party. to gain privileges. It's a status that allows to secretly plan his escape to the West. him to While performing at the Madison Square Garden, he decided to escape as he feared that he'll never have another opportunity abroad because of the American boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  A few Deaf linotypists agreed to assist in his defection, but there is  only one problem. The Russian Deaf animal trainer refuses leave his bear behind, so they rent an U-Haul to take the bear with them, driving to the Catskill Mountain to release him into the wild. He's still around nowadays volunteering at a local zoo in Ohio after retiring from his second career as an animal trainer in Hollywood. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he reunited with his family once again, visiting his homeland set free.