Leeds's Victorian bear pit in Headingley set to reopen to public.

Nanadana - well said. I wonder if air - brushers have a link to the people who walk past someone who has collapsed in the street.

perhaps it should have been called Bear Castle
The Bear Pit
The most recognisable remnant of the gardens is the Bear Pit, which fronts Cardigan Road. The Victorian structure, a sham castle facade constructed of rock-faced masonry, consists of two circular castellated turrets with round-arched entrances, linked by a wall with a gateway. On the inside, the circular bear pit is brick-lined and is linked to the facing by two tunnels. The bear was viewed by visitors by climbing spiral steps to the tops of the turrets,[15] Metal railings would have been fixed around the pit, and the bear also had a wooden pole to climb up to be fed sandwiches and buns. It was the only large animal exhibit, although there were also smaller cages which housed birds, tortoises and monkeys.[16] Bear-baiting had recently been outlawed by the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835, so they were kept only for display and scientific study.[17][18]

Purchase and restoration of the Bear Pit was one of the first acts of the Leeds Civic Trust, established in 1965.[19] It was purchased for £128 in 1966 and restored at a cost of £1,000 by 1968.[20][21]

The Bear Pit is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II listed building, having been designated on 5 August 1976.[15] Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing, and is applied to "buildings that are nationally important and of special interest".[22]

In 1983, the Civic Trust applied for planning permission to turn the Bear Pit into an open-air theatre, but this proposal was withdrawn.[23] As of September 2016, the Trust had undertaken major rubbish clearance and Japanese knotweed treatment,[24] however the structure remains as a folly, serving no use beyond a casual heritage attraction.

far from badly treated...it was the most honoured resident of the new Royal Gardens and Zoo which sadly only lasted for 8 years...his home was a castle in the centre of the park..this will give some idea
Although the Gardens were landscaped and filled with lawns, parterres and shrubberies, the zoological features never reached the size, range, or exoticism of rival zoos of the period. On the day of opening in 1840, the Leeds Mercury reported "The Zoological department as yet is confined to a fine pair of swans and some other fowl, monkeys and tortoises."[3]

When setting up the park in 1838, the committee had explored options for purchasing large animal exhibits, with a budget of £1,000 (equivalent to £95,800 in 2021). One of the people they consulted was George Wombwell, a famous menagerie exhibitor, who was able to advise that for this price, any elephants would be impossible, though it would be viable to buy a pair of lions. He also stressed for the committee that feeding them and employing keepers would mean costs continuing to escalate. Lions were never subsequently purchased. It took until 1843, three years after opening and with disappointing visitor numbers, for the Gardens to obtain their first and only large animal exhibit, a brown bear, which resided in a turretted pit in the middle of the park.[1] It was described as "a very well-bred, decently behaved brown bear"; the eventual collection of animals amounted, in addition to those above, to a raccoon, alligator, guinea pigs, an owl, a peacock, and two parrots.[2]

That’s exactly the sort of behaviour that reduced me to tears - animals showing signs of mental distress. Compare that with the eight polar bears currently at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, and the four brown bears rescued from Japan four years ago, and their behaviour couldn’t be more different because of the conditions they live in. No, it’s not a natural habitat, but they have space and stimuli, and who knows how long it will be before there’s no sea ice left for polar bears to hunt on and therefore no more wild bears?

I do think its important to remember how English people treated animals in the past, but in their defence, they didn't have television or the knowledge that we have access to today. In the 80's I remember going to Windsor Safari Park and sitting watching the Polar Bear there, who had appeared to have gone mad, just rocking and marching from one end of his enclosure to the other. It made me weep , I have never forgotten and thinking about it now still makes me weep.

I think maybe using google to find out exactly what this bear pit is all about would ease some peoples minds. It was never a bear baiting pit, it was the home of a brown bear back in the 1840's. It is a historical landmark, why not fix it up

I do agree that the new wildlife parks are much better than the old zoos.

That was my reply to Fleuroepper’s post

There were no bears in Headingley when I lived there. The ‘bear pit’ was more like a mediaeval castle to me. In fact I was quite surprised to find out it was built in Victorian times.

Belle Vue Zoo in Manchester in the sixties was a truly horrible place and I was glad it closed down. Similarly, a visit to Antwerp Zoo in the early seventies left me in tears. I couldn’t get it out of my head for a long time. The move now is toward places such as the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, and the safari parks, which have successful breeding and conservation programmes. There is no substitute for animals being in their own natural environment where they can establish territories, but there are so many factors working against that now - human pressures and climate change - that maybe one day captive animals will be the only ones that remain for children to see. I hope not.

Yes that’s a positive point, and I think many larger zoos do fund conservation, but not many of the endangered animals bred in captivity are able to be re wilded unfortunately.

That was in response to Farzanah's post
🙂

Charging the public will help to fund the conservation of those species which might be endangered. Without that perhaps some species might die out at a more rapid rate than they are at present.

Bristol Zoo has just closed and their plans for the new venue include more conservation work and education, not just at the new site but worldwide.

GrannyRose15

I loved the bear pit as a child. It was indeed a curiosity and there was nothing to say what it’s true history was so my imagination had free rein. I’m really pleased it is to be restored and that the people of Leeds will be able to learn about its history.

I went to a bear pit as a young child- as I loved animals, my parents thought I'd love it. I cried, and cried, and cried some more. Cried all the way home, and many times after.

Thinking about it, perhaps my passion for rescues comes from there- my absolute despair at seeing those magnificent animals in the pit, begging for food.

We have improved the conditions of animals kept in zoos from when this Leeds zoo was operating, but are modern zoos which are ingrained as part of our culture still really necessary?

I’m in two minds about them, because according to many animal charities they are relics of the past and should be phased out. Born Free and Freedom for Animals state that the vast majority of animals kept in zoos are not endangered or threatened and are there simply to provide public entertainment.

2507C0

I’m horrified by what must have happened to the bears in the awful bear pit. Thank the lord we don’t put bears in bear pits anymore. I’m angry that trees are being killed as part of the restoration. Whenever will those who make decisions learn ? If this sad awful place is to be opened to the public I hope it has the whole and true story of why it was built and the bears who were stolen and put in it. I hope there is also the story of the individual bears and what happened to them. Most of all I pray that humans learn and evolve and start to develop a consciousness that includes all beings on this earth including trees and plants.

We might not in this country but check out how bears are treated in the Far East. Captured, kept in small cages and milked for their bile.
The bear pit in Leeds was a home for the bears in the zoo, not what we'd want to see now but nowhere near as cruel as what is happening to bears today in other parts of the world.

freethebears.org/
www.discoverwildlife.com/news/qa-with-bears-about-the-house-presenter-giles-clark/

It is a reminder of NOT perpetuating cruelty

To me there is nothing objectional about this at all.

We still have zoos and they are a necessity if so-called wild animals are not to die out, as we humans ruin their habitats.

I realize that at the time the bear-pit functioned animals in captivity were treated less well than they are today, but glossing over the historical facts that we don't care to remember distorts history, and is dangerous as forgotten history tends to repeat itself.

I do not visit concentration camps kept as monuments to the dead of the Nazi regime, but I appreciate the thinking that keeps them open to the general public.

So whatever your opinion on keeping animals in captivity, perhaps you could regard the bear-pit much as I regard Dachau or Theriesenstadt.

I’m horrified by what must have happened to the bears in the awful bear pit. Thank the lord we don’t put bears in bear pits anymore. I’m angry that trees are being killed as part of the restoration. Whenever will those who make decisions learn ? If this sad awful place is to be opened to the public I hope it has the whole and true story of why it was built and the bears who were stolen and put in it. I hope there is also the story of the individual bears and what happened to them. Most of all I pray that humans learn and evolve and start to develop a consciousness that includes all beings on this earth including trees and plants.

Nannashirlz

Yes ppl born before our time were clueless in what they did with animals and ppl and we can only learn by mistakes but this is our history and we can’t wipe out our history can we.

They most certainly were not "clueless" or at least only the same percentage were then as we have now - some of whom post on the internet to prove the point.

They lived in different times. If you lived within the parameters of their lives you might well have behave in the same way they did.

NanaDana

There's no suggestion that this pit was used for bear-baiting, as some appear to have assumed. This cruel practise was first banned in England by the Puritans during the Civil Wars and Commonwealth (1642–60) and was permanently outlawed by act of Parliament in 1835. The "Victorian" pit in Leeds was living quarters for bears as part of a zoo. Whether or not those quarters were suitable is an entirely different argument, as is the whole issue of the ethos of zoos in general. Returning to the "Victorian bear pit", I have no problem with it being restored as of historical interest. I also feel that the trend to remove now "non PC" items from the public domain achieves the opposite of what is imagined, as we actually need to be reminded of where we got things wrong in the past. Simply air-brushing the unpleasant aspects of our social history works against that, so keep those "historic" examples, but clearly explain their context alongside them. The American philosopher George Santayana can be accurately quoted as saying : “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Hear hear

Yes ppl born before our time were clueless in what they did with animals and ppl and we can only learn by mistakes but this is our history and we can’t wipe out our history can we.

Concerned more about the cost (in current times) and damage to trees.

They could build a playground ( or social facility ) called “Bear Pit” with the cash and have a bear as a logo

not

JaneJudge

You have sent me a pm daidysnne, it is unfortunate you have forgotten

Today? I have not sent anyone a PM. If you are talking about sometime in the past I wouldn't have expected that to lead to a continuing correspondence. How ridiculous you are being simply because I answered a question you asked. You now seem to be suggesting I sent something untoward in a PM in the past. I have never done that, to anyone, ever. Stop trying to paint a simple reply as something it isn't.

People were shouting the odds about something it appears they had not found the facts on - just for the sake of having an opinion. Angry people. Suggesting they were the Mrs Angry's, (something even a small child would understand) was hardly a threat to life and limb.

I have not no idea why you have picked an argument with me for no obvious reason but I suggest you find an empty room somewhere. You could obviously have an argument in that too.