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 performs in Russia. [AFP]

 

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.