Vladimir Andreevič Karrik - A Group of Finnish Peasants holding musical instruments with bears on leashes - 1880
Bear Conservation - Working for Bears During the Middle Ages dancing bears were a common and popular form of street entertainment throughout Europe and Asia. By the fifteenth century the practice was far less common in western Europe, although there were still dancing bears in Britain in the late nineteenth century (the practice was outlawed in 1911). Closely linked with traveling shows and individual entertainers it seems that the majority of dancing bear trainers were Romany people from eastern Europe and Asia. Dancing bears remained a common sight in eastern Europe and many parts of Asia well into the late twentieth century. Dancing bears were captured from the wild as cubs and both brown and sloth bears were used. Syrian brown bear cubs were taken from the mountains of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria. The practice of taking brown bear cubs to train as dancing bears is continuing in Siberia. Following the capture of a cub or cubs in the wild, during which the mother is likely to be killed, the young animals are commonly prepared for training by having their claws trimmed or removed and a number of their teeth removed. A ring is then inserted into the bear’s nose and a muzzle placed on the snout. Training and subsequent manipulation is carried out through the infliction of pain using a staff attached to a rope which is in turn attached to the nose ring Typically bears would be taught to dance by placing them onto platforms of metal above large piles of burning logs. As the metal became hot the bears would be forced onto their hind legs by the use of the pole and nose ring and would then begin lifting each paw in turn to relieve them from the heat. As the process continued a drum or other music was played which, over a number of weeks and months, the bear came to associate with the pain in its feet. Subsequently whenever the bear heard the drum or music it would begin to “dance”.
Size: 3000px × 2128px
Photo credit: © photo-fox / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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