Discursive Essay on Bear Baiting

In a typical bear fighting event there are twenty five fights. In each fight, no matter which of the four provinces the event takes place, the rules are the same. A bear is tethered to a central pole by a rope. The length of the rope can vary from two to five metres. Two bull terriers are set onto the tethered bear. The dogs try to make the bear roll over. To make the bear roll over, the dogs target the muzzle, tongue, chin and ears. These parts of the body are the most sensitive. If a dog does manage to attach his body to one of the sensitive parts, he can then proceed to pull the bear down and force it to roll over. The fight ends when either the bear or one of the dogs falls over. The animal that falls to the ground first, loses. At any time in the fight, the dogs' owners may pull the bear out of the fight, if the owner thinks the dog has suffered enough. If this occurs the bear wins the fight. However the bear must continue with the match until the end. WSPA is the ‘World Society for the Protection of Animals'. WSPA is deeply involved in motivating governments all over Europe to put more money into helping to stop Bear Baiting. If the Pakistani authorities set up a permanent officer in their Wildlife Department, WSPA will set up a facility to house confiscated bears for life. Some people argue that this is still far from ideal for the bears to be living in captivity and certainly not an enjoyable experience for the bears. WSPA say this is ridiculous and that ‘all bears that are confiscated will have a much more pleasurable life than if they were bear baiting.' Living in a WSPA captivity camp would be similar to living in the wild. All bears would have access to a large open outside area during the day and would sleep inside. Once the Pakistani authorities teach legal, moral and ethnic arguments on bear baiting and make it part of the school curriculum, WSPA will produce public awareness posters and other materials such as leaflets.