When was bear baiting abolished

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Tell the world. To modern perspectives, it seems barbaric to not only perpetrate such cruel acts against animals but also to celebrate them. The closest parallel may be with the Roman Gladiators. Both were expensive to train and keep, both were named and celebrated by the public, and for both seeing them perform came with the frisson of their possible deaths. For over years, purpose-built bear-baiting arenas stood on the south bank of the Thames at Bankside.

But when The Globe and The Rose Theatre were built alongside the bear-baiting arenas, they attracted the same audiences. In an anonymous complainant requested theatre to be restricted as it was harming the bear-baiting business. And it was a business. While the bears were valuable and were rarely killed, the dogs were much more expendable. With responsibilities to the monarch it was important that they were ready to put on a baiting wherever and whenever they were asked.

Bearwards travelled far and wide to bring this entertainment to the non-urban masses. Bear-baiting in England dates back to medieval times, but it first became big business in the mids, when impresarios such as Philip Henslowe established dedicated animal fighting venues on the south bank of the Thames.

The noisy, blood-soaked arenas were hugely popular, and they were later considered the main competition to the plays put on at theaters such as the Rose and the Globe. Even after Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson ushered in a golden age of English drama, audiences of all social classes continued to relish the visceral thrills of the bear pits.

Queen Elizabeth I was said to be a bear-baiting fan, and once organized an exhibition for the visiting French ambassador. Bull-baiting, in which dogs were set upon chained male cattle, was particularly popular. Bear-baiting in the 16th century. While many visitors to the Bear Gardens considered the violence to be exhilarating and even funny, the blood sports also won their fair share of critics.

Puritan ministers and other clergymen denounced the arenas as dens of idleness and vice, and it was said that the games encouraged gambling, drunkenness and prostitution.

Others were more disturbed by the violence being perpetrated against helpless animals.