Bear Baiting in Olde England,When Michael Vick was caught organizing dogfights in 2007 the nation wa

Bear Baiting in Olde England,When Michael Vick was caught organizing dogfights in 2007 the nation was horrified.  The United States Senate even held an investigation into dogfighting leading Senator Robert Byrd to make his famous “barbaric” speech.  While today bloodsports using animals is for the most part seen as a cruel and repugnant, in earlier times such sports were everyday pastimes for both the underclass and the wealthy who had no qualms about animal cruelty.One of the most popular animal bloodsports in England between 1500 and 1800 was a practice known as bear baiting.  Basically a bear would be chained to a post in a pit while a pack of 4 or 5 dogs would attack it.  The dogs were usually strong breeds of hunting dogs, the most common being the Old English Bulldog.  Rather than secret backroom affairs like illegal cockfights or dogfights today, bearbaiting was a popular sport that was done in special amphitheaters called “beargardens”.  There spectators could enjoy watching the carnage, often betting on whether the bear or the dogs would survive.  It was not uncommon for both animals to suffer terrible wounds and injuries.While such a sport sounds ghastly today, in 16th century England bearbaiting was a favorite of all peoples, including the upperclass.  Two of the most famous fans of bearbaiting were King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.  Henry VIII was such an enthusiastic fan that he had a bearbaiting pit constructed in his palace at Whitehall so he could host private bearbaits with his family and courtiers.  Queen Elizabeth I bred her own English Mastiff’s for the purpose of bearbaiting.  When the Puritans in Parliament attempted to outlaw bear baiting on Sundays, she simply overruled them.While bearbaiting was most popular, other versions of the sport existed as well.  In one variation a bear was blinded and servants whipped the bear while trying to avoid being attacked.  Bullbaiting was similar to bearbaiting, with the substitution of a bull instead of a bear.  In one example a Spanish nobleman describes a baiting involving a pony with an ape tied to its back,“…to see the animal kicking amongst the dogs, with the screaming of the ape, beholding the curs hanging from the ears and neck of the pony, is very laughable.”By the 19th century bear baiting started to become frowned upon by the public, especially by Queen Victoria who was a passionate animal lover. In 1835 Parliament passed the Cruelty to Animals Act which banned the sport.  This resulted in an end to bearbaiting but the rise of ratbaiting as the Victorian Era animal bloodsport of choice.  Unfortunately today, bearbaiting has been resurrected and is making a comeback in Pakistan. . -- source link

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