Harassing a bear

This type of bloody entertainment was popular in England until the middle of the XIX century . Since the 16th century , a huge number of bears have died in special arenas. A typical arena for harassing a bear was a round platform enclosed by a high fence, the so-called “ bear pit ” ( bear pit ). On a raised platform around the site were seats for spectators. All together, this was called the "bear-garden" ( bear-garden ). A pillar was dug into the ground, to which a bear was chained to a chain, by the paw or by the neck. Specially trained dogs were lowered onto it. As the dogs died, were injured or were simply exhausted from the battle with the bear, they were replaced with fresh ones. Sometimes a bear could be lowered from the chain, or it could break from it and chase animals and people. There are cases when the bear was previously blinded. ^[one]

For a long time, the main "bear garden" of London was the Paris Garden in the Southwark area.

History

Apparently, the British borrowed the tradition of stalking animals from the Romans . According to one version, the Romans themselves delivered bear-bating and other similar entertainments at a time when most of Britain was under their control ( 55 BC - 350 AD ). On the other hand, according to the chronicles at the disposal of the researchers, it can be concluded that the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor began to arrange bear fights, following the example of the Romans.

Henry VIII was a big fan of entertainment and at his Whitehall residence he made a “bear ditch”. Already after his death, the English poet Robert Crowley devoted the following elevated lines to bear-bating, one of the first to mention the "bear garden" in Paris Garden:

About the bear fights.
What kind of madness to start in spite of the risk,
Huge mastiff and wild ugly bear,
And all just to see them fight
Tearing each other, what a disgusting sight.
And yet, I think it’s stupid not to find such people,
They have almost no money
But every Sunday they will definitely spend
One or two pennies so as to try to get things right.
Paris Garden for sure any Sunday
You will find two or three hundred of them in the field where bear harassment occurs

Original text

Of Bearbaytynge.
What follye is thys, to kepe wyth daunger,
A greate mastyfe dogge and a foule ouglye beare;
And to thys onelye ende, to se them two fyght,
Wyth terrible tearynge, a full ouglye syght.
And yet me thynke those men be mooste foles of all,
Whose store of money is but verye smale,
And yet euerye Sondaye they will surelye spende
One penye or two, the bearwardes lyuyng to mende.
At Paryse Garden eche Sundaye, a man shall not fayle

To fynde two or three hundredes, for the bearwardes vaile

The daughters of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, were also not alien to entertainment; she arranged them in a multitude. When Parliament decided to ban baiting on Sundays, it overturned that decision.

Harassing bears was a very expensive entertainment compared to other types of bloody contests. The spectacle enjoyed the highest patronage in London, although it was widely held throughout the country. The royal court arranged performances with bears both for distinguished foreign guests and, sometimes, for ordinary people.

Favorite Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Reilly, argued that, as a landmark in London, the “Bear Garden” is not inferior in importance to Westminster Abbey and must be shown to foreigners.

There is a letter from a certain Robert Laneham describing the presentation given by Robert Dudley , Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth Castle in 1575 :

Thursday, July 14, Her Majesty’s sixth day, a huge selection of mastiffs on a leash in the courtyard and thirteen bears in the courtyard ...

Yes, sir, the bears were brought into the courtyard, the dogs were put to them, nose to nose. Then they carefully made sure that one of the parties did not have a clear advantage, so as not to have to restrain the other. It's hard for me to judge. Both bears and dogs are very strong, and fighting passion decides a lot. If the dog in defense grabs the bear in the throat, then he has the opportunity to tear the skin from her claws ^[2]

Original text

Thursday, the fourteenth of July, and the sixth day of her Majesty's coming, a great sort of bandogs [mastiff] were then tied in the outer court and thirteen bears in the inner ...

Well, sir, the bears were brought forth into the court, the dogs set to them, to argue the points even face to face. They had learned counsel also on both parts, what may they be counted partial that are retained but to one side? I know not. Very fierce, both one and the other, and eager in argument. If the dog in pleading would pluck the bear by the throat, the bear with traverse would claw him again by the scalp, confess and a list, but avoid it could not that was bound to the bar, and his counsel told him that it could be to him no policy in pleading.

Therefore, with fending & proving, with plucking and tugging, scratching and biting, by plain tooth and nail on one side and the other, such expense of blood and leather [skin] was there between them, as a months licking (I think) will not recover, and yet remain as far out as ever they were.

It was a sport very pleasant, of these beasts, to see the bear with his pink eyes leering after his enemies approach, the nimbleness and wayt [wait] of the dog to take his advantage, and the force and experience of the bear again to avoid the assaults. If he were bitten in one place, how he would pinch in another to get free, that if he were taken once, then what shift, with biting, with clawing, with roaring, tossing and tumbling, he would work to wind himself free from them. And when he was loose, to shake his ears twice or thrice with the blood and the slather about his physiognomy, was a matter of goodly relief.

In addition to bears, in England they hunted a wide variety of animals, but especially bulls ( bull-bating ). In 1623, the Spanish ambassador was persecuted in Paris Garden:

Demonstrated all possible types of bullying on a bull, horse and bear, as well as donkeys and monkeys. And then they arranged a battle of a polar bear with dogs in the waters of the Thames, which, undoubtedly, is an unrivaled spectacle.

Unsuccessful attempts to stop the bloody spectacle were made back in the 16th century by the Puritans . On January 12, 1583, spectators died during the collapse of the arena in Paris Garden, and the Puritans saw in this event the wrath of God, though not for cruelty to animals, but for the fact that the entertainment was held on Sundays. ^[3]

By the end of the 17th century, an increasing number of educated citizens were in favor of ending the violence, but bullying is still a popular and prestigious form of entertainment. Competitions were suspended during the Great Plague Epidemic (1665–1666), but were soon resumed. So, on March 3, 1682, the ambassador of Morocco and the Duke of Alberma became witnesses of the deaths of several dogs in the "bear garden". After the Glorious Revolution (1688), entertainment lost the support of the court, and Paris Garden's popularity waned. However, the people's love of bullying was very strong, and soon the center of the spectacle became the new "bear garden" in Hockley in the Hole , one of the districts of Clerkenwell .

By the end of the next, XVIII century, entertainment went out of fashion, ceased to be a privilege of royalty and aristocracy, and completely passed to the needs of commoners. The issue was finally resolved in 1835 , when Bear-Bating was banned by Parliament under the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 . Despite this, bear harassment continued to be carried out illegally for quite some time throughout the British Empire . The last known bullying was carried out in the small town of Nottingley ( Knottingley ).

Bear Beating's Popularity in Medieval England

By popularity, only baiting bulls ( bull-bating ) could compete with bear baiting in the late Middle Ages.

Some bears, whose performances were at the peak of the spectacle's popularity, became real "stars" of the ring. So, during the reign of Jacob I, the bear nicknamed George Stone after his first battle became famous "from edge to edge of the earth." William Shakespeare in the comedy Windsor Mockers (1602) mentioned a bear named Sackerson, which probably existed in reality.

Under Jacob II (1685–1688), another bear shone, Young Chernysh, owned by the Irish O'Sullivan. In one day, he emerged victorious from 22 fights with the best dogs of the country according to the “one on one” and “one against two” schemes. True, he always spoke in “protectors” (an iron collar and a muzzle) that protected him. In the end, Young Chernysh died in a fight with three dogs, conducted without protective treads.

The popularity of bear betting is evidenced by the fact that many pastors attracted parishioners to the vaults of churches with the help of bullying bears. A history is known that allegedly occurred in 1612 in Congleton . According to rumors, the abbot sold the church Bible to buy a war bear. Most likely, the situation was different: a bear guardian needed money to buy a bear for the holiday, and he turned to the city council, which decided to allocate funds deferred to purchase a new Bible. A similar story happened in the village of Clifton, two miles from Rugby . Whatever the real circumstances of these cases, they show how important the bear fights were in the life of the British of that time.

At present, bear persecution is carried out in two provinces of Pakistan - Sindhe and Punjab , despite the fact that they were banned no later than 2005. ^[4] Spectacles are arranged mainly by local landowners, using fighting dogs belonging to them; as a rule, signboards ^[5] similar to pit bull terriers .

The bear is tied on a rope 2-5 meters long in the center of the arena. ^[6] Often, his fangs are preliminarily removed, and sometimes his nails are cut off to reduce his advantage over dogs. Each battle lasts about three minutes, but usually one bear will have to carry out several fights per day. Dogs that knock a bear to the ground are awarded a victory.

Himalayan and brown bears , for illegal fights, are usually supplied by poachers . ^{[7] [8]} The status of the Himalayan bear in the Red Book of the World Conservation Union is designated as “vulnerable”. ^[9] Catching of cubs is prohibited in three of the four provinces of Pakistan: in Sindh since 1972, in Punjab (since 1974) and in the Northwest border (since 1975).

Bear betting has been banned throughout Pakistan since 1890 (as part of the British Empire ). ^[10] Pakistan’s environmental authorities, in collaboration with environmental activists, are working to eradicate the harassment of bears in the country, and have achieved some success. ^{[8] [11]}

Animal fights are contrary to the Qur'an . ^{[12] [13]} Conservationists persuade the imams of mosques in those areas where bullying occurs to include appeals against violence and cruelty to animals in Friday prayers . ^[fourteen]

The Kund Zoological Park in the north-west of the country was opened in 2001 by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). It contains bears confiscated from poachers and the population, animals are adapted to return to the wild. ^[four]

The term "bear-betting" is sometimes used not to mean bloody sport. So called one of the ways of hunting a bear, banned in some US states . Bears are fed meat or sweets, every day at a strictly defined time, leaving the bait in the same place. When the hunter makes sure that the bear appears daily at the bait, he ambushes and kills him. Animal advocates report that bear betting is banned in 18 of the 27 states where bear hunting is permitted. The law has not yet been passed in Alaska , as well as in the states of Idaho , Maine , Michigan , Minnesota , New Hampshire , Utah , Wisconsin and Wyoming . For example, in Wisconsin in 2002, hunters caught 2,415 bears, of which 1,720 were victims of bear-bating. In the state of Maine, in 2001, 3,903 bears were killed, and the production of beaters amounted to 3,173 bears. ^[fifteen]

• Baiting a bull

• Haines, B.S. English Bulldog = The new bulldog. - M .: Centerpolygraph , 2000 .-- 343 p. - ISBN 5-227-00687-3 .

• PBS 'Shakespeare on Bear baiting
• "The Old Bear Garden at Bankside, Southwark , Bear Bating article in London, from The Every-day Book and Table Book; or, Everlasting Calendar of Popular Amusements, Sports, Pastimes, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs, and Events, Each of the Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days, in Past and Present Times; Forming a Complete History of the Year, Months, and Seasons, and a Perpetual Key to the Almanac, Including Accounts of the Weather, Rules for Health and Conduct, Remarkable and Important Anecdotes, Facts, and Notices, in Chronology, Antiquities, Topography, Biography, Natural History, Art, Science, and General Literature; Derived from the Most Authentic Sources, and Valuable Original Communication, with Poetical Elucidations, for Daily Use and Diversion Vol III. , Ed. William Hone, (London: 1838) p 489-98. Retrieved on 2008-06-20.
• WSPA on bear baiting
• Bioresource Research Center on bear baiting
• Info Hub specialty travel guide on bears of Pakistan