It looks like this one bear got a much improved life out of this, but before you get too joyful about it, let me tell you that a rescued animal getting to live in a 30 acre enclosure is really amazingly unusual. I don't know anything about the organization involved, but it smells like a publicity stunt.
Be very careful of the very short distance between helping animals that are really being mistreated, and banning having any wild animals in captivity.
Well, according to the article, there were thirteen other bears involved, with another ten in process. And, yeah, part of it is a publicity stunt... but it seems to be one with good intent. Buying the bears from the gypsies and using the proceeds to help them set up alternate businesses is also tremendously spiff.
Great. Now I've got jhitchin's "Dating With Bears" stuck in my head (not an easy task when you consider I've been listening to Marillion for the last hour...).
Buying these bears from the gypsies is a much better way to handle it than to confiscate them or prosecute the gypsies because having the bears is illegal. The only troubling thing is if the publicity in this case leads people to think that they're supposed to make the practice stop right away, so other gypsies are pressured to dump their bears or have them confiscated.
While the article mentions that the program is trying to help other bears, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the others to end up in 30 acre enclosures of their own. It mentioned bears being kept by their gypsy owners but not dancing, which sounds like a bad situation to me. They're not valuable to the gypsies if they're not performing, so the rescuers had better take charge of them before the gypsies decide they're not worth the trouble to care for.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-28 10:04 am (UTC)Someone's copy editor was having a bad day.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-28 11:10 am (UTC)Be very careful of the very short distance between helping animals that are really being mistreated, and banning having any wild animals in captivity.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-28 11:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-28 12:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-28 12:42 pm (UTC)While the article mentions that the program is trying to help other bears, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the others to end up in 30 acre enclosures of their own. It mentioned bears being kept by their gypsy owners but not dancing, which sounds like a bad situation to me. They're not valuable to the gypsies if they're not performing, so the rescuers had better take charge of them before the gypsies decide they're not worth the trouble to care for.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-28 08:28 pm (UTC)It seems to me that Ms. Bardot could use some positive press about now:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5181642/
(no subject)
Date: 2004-06-28 10:39 pm (UTC)