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Bear arrested for begging
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-08-25 11:20
A bear is reportedly being detained in a police cell after being arrested for
begging in the western Siberian city of Divnogorsk.
![A dancing bear performing in Russia. [AFP]](xin_37080225112314004951.jpg)
A dancing bear
performs in Russia. [AFP] |
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According to the RIA-Novosti news agency, police picked up the female bear
after reports she had been cajoling food from drivers parked at a roadside cafe.
"Capturing the bear didn't require much effort," a local police commander
told the news agency, adding that the bear had obviously lived with humans for a
long time.
She appeared to have fled from her owner or had been abandoned like a
"useless toy", the officer said.
Despite her apparent familiarity with humans and good behaviour, the bear has
been put behind bars, although the officer stressed it would be a temporary
detention.
"We are feeding her honey and cake," he said.
Managers of the zoo in nearby Krasnoyarsk have refused to take the animal,
saying they already had plenty of bears.
A former circus trainer has offered to give the bear a home if its owner
doesn't come forward within two days.
The beggar is the second bear to be picked up this summer by police in
Divnogorsk, a city of 30,000 on the Yenisey river, which is surrounded by dense
Siberian forest or taiga.
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