December 1999

Bears Suffering in the name of entertainment

An investigation into Japanese Bear Parks, undertaken by WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) and the Japanese animal protection group ALIVE (All Life In A Viable Environment), has revealed that hundreds of bears are being kept in appalling conditions and subjected to horrific exploitation.

"Many of the parks are overcrowded and sometimes, as many as fifty bears are crammed into filthy concrete pits no bigger than tennis courts. In some of the parks, bears are confined underground in small barred cages," says Kylie Jones, Regional Manager, WSPA Australia and New Zealand.

The public exhibition of bears is now one of Japan's most popular leisure pursuits, with eight parks across the country holding over 1,000 bears between them. The biggest park, which holds the largest collection of captive bears in the world, is based on the southern island of Kyushu and holds nearly 400 bears.

During the WSPA investigation none of the parks were found to keep bears living in adequate conditions and no attempt has been made in any of the bear enclosures to provide a stimulating environment.

"In all the parks, the bears are starved throughout the day to make them eager to beg for food from tourists. When they are fed, it is not a proper diet, and food is thrown into the enclosures which, along with over crowding, encourages fighting," says Ms Jones.

Many of the parks keep males and females together in the same enclosure. There are few controls on breeding and many females give birth in communal areas where their cubs are killed by other bears or die of neglect. The cubs that do survive are taken from their mothers when they are too young and sold or exhibited for amusement.

Ms Jones says, "Daily circus-style performances of the bears are very popular and young cubs are bred or brought from other parks or zoos to train for these performances. The training methods involve the infliction of pain and stress on the bears and there are reports of bears being starved, beaten, kicked and shocked with electric cattle prods."

Veterinary care of bears held in most of the parks is non-existent. During the investigation WSPA saw bears with serious injuries which should have received immediate veterinary attention.

Ms Jones says that "All of the parks were seen to exploit the bears for commercial purposes and the priority of the park management is clearly to exhibit the bears as fully as they could for the entertainment of the public. The income in many parks is over $100,000 per year and in two of the largest, Noboribetsu and Aso Bear Parks the income is in millions of dollars".

"Despite the Japanese public's deep rooted interest in bears, there is no realistic attempt by the parks to educate the public about them, instead they promote the idea of bears as clowns and savage wild animals and make them objects for human amusement," says Ms Jones.

WSPA is committed to saving the bears from neglect and cruelty and plans to lobby the Japanese Government with the aim of bringing about the reinforcement and introduction of tougher animal cruelty legislation. It also aims to put pressure on bear park owners to either close the most dilapidated parks down or where appropriate, provide a more natural, clean and healthy environment for the bears. WSPA also believes that education is vital to change attitudes and plans to produce educational material for the Japanese public.

Available on request:

• Broadcast quality footage and colour transparencies.

Please contact:

Anne Lloyd-Jones, WSPA, on (02) 9901 5277 or 0404 066 498 during business hours, or e-mail annelj@wspa.org.au.