I'm surprised no-one has commented on the presence of three caged brown bear cubs at Enstone Show last Saturday. I was elsewhere at the time, so didn't go to the show, but there is an article with pictures of the caged bears on P.13 of yesterday's Daily Mail, and possibly in other papers, too, with the heading 'Bears paraded in cages for crowd's amusement. Albania? China? No, a cotswold village fete.

I know I saw this article yesterday and was absolutely disgusted that enstone thought this was acceptable. Who ever the organisers are should be ashamed!!

Oh for goodness sake it was a news article edited to make it look sensational, the Bears weren't made to perform like ponies at a country show, handled like hamsters by children, dropped or sat on, bile wasn't being extracted infact it would be fair to say they are better looked after than most domestic pets. As for being in cages so are they in zoo's.

No you cannot asume that, personally I have never wanted to 'own' a pet or animal, certainly not keep one in a cage infact I have never been to support the annual Boxing Day meet and like you I was suprised to read what happened at Enstone, however and the point I was trying to make is you found it disgusting yet do you know anyone who's children have pets that are kept in cages, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, mice, birds etc do you tell them you are disgusted? I think not, that is classed as acceptable isn't it what is the difference?

You are right the Bear should not be in a cage, but neither should Monkeys, Gorrillas, Lions, Tigers etc in zoo's for entertaining the same people, to stare at animals behind bars lowers us to their level.

I absolutely agree about domestic pets. I don't agree with exhibiting any animals in cages for public "entertainment". I do believe that there is a place for breeding some species in captivity (e.g rhinos - to safeguard their future), but many pets, such as my neighbours pet rabbits are kept in solitary confinement - which, of course, is totally alien to a rabbits natural way of life. They get fed daily, but other than that, receive no attention as soon as the novelty value has worn off. The bears may have been caged for a day, but there are thousands of small animals suffering in hutches etc EVERY day, in this country of "animal lovers"!