Tame bear
{{Short description|Wild bear raised for entertainment}}
{{Redirect|Dancing bear|the record label|Dancing Bear}}
File:The dancing bear by William Frederick Witherington.jpg, England, 1822]]
A tame bear, often called a dancing bear, is a wild bear captured when young or born and bred in captivity. These bears have been used to entertain people in streets or taverns. Dancing bears were commonplace throughout Europe and Asia from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, and can still be found in the 21st century in some countries.
Dancing bears
=Training methods=
Because dancing bears need to stand on hind legs to perform tricks, various methods have been employed to execute this behavior. One method involves trainers constantly feeding the bear from above, which acclimates the bear to standing on its hind legs, usually in response to a trained signal from the bear handler. Another tactic is considered inhumane today but is still practiced in some countries by semi-nomadic people living in extreme poverty.{{Cite web |last=Blogger |first=Guest |date=2021-11-09 |title=Do dancing bears still exist? |url=https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/latest/blogs/dancing-bear/ |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=World Animal Protection |language=en-GB}} These handlers file down the bear's teeth and push a hot iron rod through the top of the bear's nuzzle to create a permanent hole in the bear's nose and mouth. The handler then threads the hole with a knotted rope, so the bear can be pulled upright, inflicting pain on the bear as its motivation to stand. To make the bear dance, the animal might be put on a hot plate while music is played to condition it to move its feet out of fear and anxiety any time it hears music. Bears might also be starved in an attempt to render them less aggressive.{{cite book | last=Bieder | first=Robert E. | title=Bear | publisher=Reaktion Books | publication-place=London | date=2005-08-18 | isbn=1-86189-204-7 | pages=106–110}}
=History=
In ancient Rome, bears and monkeys were led to dance and perform tricks for the public.{{cite journal|author=Pelin Tünaydın|title=Pawing through the History of Bear Dancing in Europe|journal=Frühneuzeit-Info|url=http://www.bearconservation.org.uk/Pawing_through_the_History_of_Bear_Danci.pdf}} Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, dancing bears continued to be commonplace throughout Europe and Asia.{{Cite web |title= |url=http://www.bearconservation.org.uk/dancing-bears/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910064735/http://www.bearconservation.org.uk/dancing-bears/ |archive-date=2024-09-10 |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=www.bearconservation.org.uk |language=en |url-status=live }} By the fifteenth century, the practice began to dwindle in Western Europe and was officially banned in the UK in 1911.{{cite book | last=Bieder | first=Robert E. | title=Bear | publisher=Reaktion Books | publication-place=London | date=2005-08-18 | isbn=1-86189-204-7 | page=110}} Dancing bears continued to appear frequently in Eastern Europe and Asia until the late 20th century. Dancing bears were banned in India under the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act.{{cite news |date=20 December 2009 |title=Charity frees 'last' dancing bear|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/8423470.stm |work=BBC News |location= |access-date=31 August 2024}} The last of them were freed in 2009.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8421867.stm|publisher=BBC News|title=Last Indian dancing bear set free|date=18 December 2009|accessdate=4 January 2017|archive-date=5 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105114846/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8421867.stm|url-status=live}}
In Russia and Siberia, cubs were for centuries captured for being used as dancing bears accompanying tavern musicians (skomorokhi), as depicted in the Travels of Adam Olearius.{{cite book|last=Findeizen|first=Nikolai|title=History of Music in Russia from Antiquity to 1800, Vol. 1: From Antiquity to the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZexDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT201|year=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-02637-8|page=201}}
Dancing bears were widespread throughout Europe from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. They were still present on the streets of Spain in 2007,{{cite web|last1=Neale|first1=Adam|title=Dancing bears in Spain cause public outcry|url=http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2007/10/16/dancing-bears-in-spain-cause-public-outcry/|publisher=The Olive Press|accessdate=4 January 2017|date=16 October 2007|archive-date=12 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612124919/http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2007/10/16/dancing-bears-in-spain-cause-public-outcry/|url-status=live}} and in Eastern Europe.
Recently, organizations and animal rights activists have worked to outlaw or eliminate tame bears, since the practice is seen as cruel and antiquated, citing mistreatment and abuse used in order to train the bears.{{Cite web|title=Dancing bears|work=Bear Conservation|url=http://www.bearconservation.org.uk/dancing-bears/|access-date=2020-11-09|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|date=2017-10-30|title=Traveling Bear Shows: Abuse and Neglect On Tour|url=https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/traveling-bear-shows-shameful-spectacles/|access-date=2020-11-09|website=PETA|language=en-US}}
=French bear handlers=
Traveling with a bear was very popular in France at the end of the 19th century, between 1870 and 1914. More than 600 men from Ariège in the French Pyrenees trained bear cubs found in the mountains near their home. Among them, 200 traveled to North America arriving at the ports of New York, Quebec, Montreal and Halifax from the ports of Liverpool, Glasgow and Belfast.Louise Pagé, The Man behind the Dancing Bear, amazon.ca, ISBN 9782981754516 They would leave their home early in spring, walking from the Pyrenees through France and England, earning money for the crossing in order to arrive in North America in May or June.
=Gallery=
File:Dancing Bear Adam Olearius Travels.jpg|Engraving with dancing bear from Adam Olearius's Travels, 1647
File:Bohemian Bear Tamer 01.jpg|Bohemian Bear Tamer, 1888 cast by Paul Wayland Bartlett
File:Josephine the Bear at MBL Club.png|Josephine the Bear in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, {{circa|1915}}
File:Pushkar-bear and handler.jpg|A dancing bear in Pushkar, India, 2003
File:Dancing bear in Beaulieu-sous-la-Roche, France 2007.jpg|Dancing bear in France, 2007