Setting Free the (Wrong) Bears

Raju and Sheru shuffle about looking for a damp spot in the shade. It's hot, the flies are bothering them and they're bored. Unemployment is no fun for a performing bear.

Three months ago, India's mangy but ubiquitous performing bears were forced into retirement by an animal-rights conscious government armed with a rarely enforced wildlife protection statute. The intention: to improve the bears' undeniably terrible lot. The result, however, has been even worse. Ten New Delhi bears have been confiscated from owners and confined to dank animal shelters. Some have stopped eating because of homesickness and one bear...

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