Through a long chain of link-clicking, I ran across a page about the bear pits of Berne, a tourist attraction of which I had previously been entirely unaware. Now I know that they’ve been in the city for hundreds of years, since bears are the city mascot, and I also know that there is now a movement to get them moved to a more humane setting.
But now I’m curious, and I can’t seem to find anything about the role of keepers over the centuries. I mean, in, like, 1890, were there people whose job it was to feed the bears, and muck out the bear pits? I assume there would’ve had to be, but who hired them? The city? If anyone happens to know, or would have a better idea where I might profitably look, that would be keen. I also saw a grisly mention of a guild that slaughtered “surplus” bears once a year, to be eaten as a delicacy, and I wonder if guild members and keepers were the same people?
(Yes, my reading is more than usually eclectic, here in the Undisclosed Location.)