Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

As public feeling was aroused, laws were enforced and new ones were passed. And so in the late 50's and early 60's, the bear-and-bull fight, which had reached a higher stage of development in Spanish California than anywhere else, began to be legislated out of existence. In Sacramento the first step was to prohibit fights on Sunday to insure better observation of the Sabbath ( Thomas, 1856 ). In 1860 the young and booming city of Los Angeles passed an ordinance prohibiting them ( Cleland, 1941 ) - only twenty-five years after bearbaiting and bullbaiting had been outlawed in England by act of Parliament.
Despite these California enactments, some fights are of record in later years - 1868 and even 1881 - but the practice finally came to an end because of public opinion and the scarcity of grizzlies. Reply