Bristol Zoo; Sign Written Enclosure Warning Sign For The Bear Pit C.1950-60

The hand sign written enclosure warning sign believed to have been displayed around the edge of the bear pit during the period reading; 'Do Not Sit Children On This Barrier' the whole of wooden construction and painted in sky blue and red with yellow text, surviving from the 1950s and formerly of Bristol zoological gardens.
 
In good original overall order, there are no condition issues. There are four drilled holes for mounting.
 
A bear pit was historically used to display bears, typically for entertainment and especially bear-baiting. The pit area was normally surrounded by a high fence, above which the spectators would look down on the bears. The most traditional form of maintaining bears in captivity is keeping them in pits, although many zoos replaced these by more elaborate and spacious enclosures that attempt to replicate their natural habitats, for the benefit of the animals and the visitors.
 
The Bear pit at Bristol Zoo was built in about 1836, in a classical architectural style and eventually became the aquarium in the late 1960s. Please refer to the photos of The Bear Pit at Bristol Zoo in the 1960s seen over the heads of summer visitors. It was never a satisfactory existence for the bears, padding around the bottom of the pit with an occasional climb to the top of the pole. Fairly hidden, half covered by a tree just outside the entrance to the underwater world, was a tall wooden pole on top of which the zoo's bears would once sit, so the public could see them more easily. People would walk up these steps from the front, which in recent years have been like a little waterfall, and then stand around with a balustrade around the top and in the middle is this deep pit so the animals are actually up on (the) visitors' level, the pole situated in the middle, and the bears would climb the pole. It was still operating as a bear pit right up until the 1960s.
 
Opened in 1836 by the Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society, Bristol Zoo was the world's oldest provincial zoo. The zoo's stated mission was to "maintain and defend" biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider understanding of the natural world". Bristol, like its earlier London counterpart, included several original buildings which have been praised for their architectural quirks, despite being unsuitable for the care of animals; the (former) Giraffe House joined the main entrance lodge to the south gates on Guthrie Road as a Grade II listed building.
 
The Zoo announced on 27 November 2020 that after more than 186 years its main centre in Clifton would close in 2022, with its animals moving to its Wild Place Project site close to the M5 motorway and the zoo reopening there in early 2024.
 
Into the bear pit!