Report from WSPA: - Japanese Bear Pits

Japanese bear parks are zoo-like facilities where bears are kept in crowded, concrete pits for the amusement of tourists, who come to ogle at the prisoners kept in concrete pits below. In Japan, bears are regarded as a ferocious menace, and are being legally hunted to dangerously low numbers. Across Japan, nine parks contain over 1,000 captive bears. Very few Japanese people who visit these parks seem to consider the welfare implications for these bears and any preconceptions that they might have about bears being aggressive are exacerbated by the conditions in the parks, as well as literature and goods sold in souvenir shops.

WSPA investigator Victor Watkins says "Overcrowding encourages the bears to fight, and they often have terrible injuries. In the wild, bears are solitary animals, so it is entirely unnatural behaviour. By putting 60 -odd bears in one of those concrete pits the park encourages fighting. They can see that it goes down well with spectators."

At the moment, bear parks are sold to the public by showing man's domination over these wild beasts. Bear park managers even allow tourists to throw food titbits into the pits to incite the animals to fight over the scraps.

WSPA now wants to see the worst bear parks closed, and ensure that the rest improve their facilities enough to allow bears to exhibit more natural behaviour.
General proposals include: -

• To stop all breeding of bears in parks.
• To stop bears being caught in the wild for parks.
• To stop all circus performances within the bear parks.
• To ensure that bears in captivity receive adequate veterinary care.
• To improve captive conditions to encourage natural behaviour.
• To make food and water available to bears and ban public feeding.
• To urge Noboribetsu bear park to create the first forested Japanese bear sanctuary.

WSPA's findings are being sent to the parks' owners, Japan's local authorities and central government and to the JAZZ club (Japanese Association of Zoological Gardens and Aquaria).
"We want to close the worst parks, while others must end spectacles like circus shows. But, most importantly, we want to raise awareness about bears among people of Japan. The parks instill a totally negative attitude to these animals, and visitors come away with a complete misunderstanding of how bears should live and behave."