When a giant, moving robotic bear with the voice of Casey Affleck talks, people tend to listen. “Bernard,” PETA’s 7-foot-tall robotic bear voiced by the actor, spoke to people in Charlotte, Asheville, and Cherokee, North Carolina, this week about the horrid Cherokee Bear Zoo and its fellow seedy tourist traps that confine bears to barren concrete pits or tiny pens.
Bears held captive in these facilities suffer from psychological distress, arthritis, pressure sores, and other painful, debilitating conditions. Since 2012, PETA has successfully worked to close down two bear pits and move 56 captive bears from pits and tiny pens to sanctuaries—where they are finally free to roam, forage, climb, and swim.
“Bears belong with their families in nature, not on display in sad, filthy concrete pits,” Affleck says.
What You Can Do
Text “BEAR” to 73822 to send an e-mail to bear pit owners asking them to let the bears retire to sanctuaries.
