Postcard from Bishkek

You can imagine my surprise when, one day in 1999, I sat at my computer and downloaded the latest episode of Alistair Cooke’s letter from America and read the opening sentence:

“The name Bishkek does not come trippingly off the tongue … “

At that time, Bishkek did not feature not very often in the world’s media … neither did the name of Kyrgyzstan, the country of which Bishkek is the capital.  It was like when I first came out here a few years before: no-one seemed to know anything about Kyrgyzstan.  Indeed, one of the CD’s sold locally was called “Unknown Land Kyrgyzstan”.  The situation has changed somewhat since then, however, … thanks to, (amongst other things):

• the kidnapping of Japanese geologists and American mountain climbers by groups of Islamic militants in 1999 and 2000;
• the Tulip Revolution of March 2005;
• the declaration by Swedish researchers that Kyrgyzstan was the ideal location for Santa Clause to begin his annual journey bringing presents to children all over the world in 2007;
• an aircrash just outside Bishkek in 2008;
• the maneuvering and wheeler-dealing over the future of the US Air force base at Manas airport in Bishkek in 2009;

Despite this, it is still a rare occasion when Kyrgyzstan is catapulted into the headline news around the world so that when, a couple of nights ago, I was watching the news on BBC World my attention was grabbed by a ticker tape across the bottom of the screen which announced that a Circus Bear had killed its trainer in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

I wonder how many people wondered: “Where? … “.  Kyrgyzstan may crop up in a news story from time to time, so you might think that we are getting over this “unknown land” syndrome – but I still meet international consultants who presumably might be expected to know more than the general public but still say that they had never heard of the place before they got their contract   “Name recognition” is important so you might think that I would be happy that the name .   They say that there is no such thing as “bad publicity” but, all the same, my heart sank rather than rejoicing in the fact that the name “unknown land” was receiving additional exposure.

Most of the occasions when Kyrgyzstan has come to the attention of the world’s media have been somewhat “unfortunate” events – and presented the country in an unfavourable light.  Even the story about Santa led to criticism about the country trying to “hi-jack” a traditional symbol.  It would be nice, it occurred to me, if, for once, Kyrgyzstan could make the news for something pleasant or positive.

So, I wondered, how would a story about a bear killing it’s trainer affect the image of a country?

It seems that the story has been picked up around the world.  As far as I can tell a report by the news services United Press International (UPI), Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Interfax were  picked up by newspapers in the United Kingdom, the USA, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, India … and, of course, here in Kyrgyzstan.  In the UK, articles appeared in the Times, Daily Telegraph and The Sun.  On television, as the well as the BBC, CNN and Sky News have carried the story and there were several blogs that referred to the story.  One search engine listed over thirty sites that had pages on the story.  Although the various accounts seem to rely mainly on the original leads, they do vary as some have been re-written and some have additional comments, presumably provided by stringers here in Bishkek.

So what happened?  As far as I can tell:

Apparently, during rehearsals at the State Circus building in the heart of Bishkek city center by the traveling circus troupe, “Russian Circus on Ice”, a five year old performing bear attacked and killed one man, (in some reports it was his trainer, although other reports say that he was the Circus Director or Administrator) and mauling another person, (according to some of the accounts, the trainer), who tried to rescue the first man and was taken to hospital in a critical state with severe lacerations.  The bear had dragged his victim across the ice by his neck and nearly severing his legs.  The emergency services arrived, sealed off the building, and eventually the police shot the bear.

It is not known why the bear attacked … it wasn’t protecting it’s young … it probably wasn’t hungry or malnourished … perhaps it was reacting to some “offence” or “insult” – either long ago in the past or more recent?  Much was made in the reports that bear was wearing ice-skates … well, it was the “Russian Circus On Ice”.  Several of the reports went on to mention that in Russian circuses bears are often dressed up and put in skates, and some even play ice hockey as part of the performance.

Several reports went on to refer to an earlier incident in 2002 when another bear in a visiting traveling zoo killed a young girl who tried to stroke it.  (Incidentally, the reports state that on that occasion, the bear was on loan to the Bishkek City Zoo, which is a bit surprising, because there isn’t one.)

Others pointed out that such attacks by captive animals are rare, although they are more common in the vast, sparsely inhabited  places like Siberia where the animals roam free and wild.

There were several things that worried me about the news coverage of this story.  In particular:

I was left wondering, this isn’t the first time a dear has attacked a human, so why was this one so newsworthy?, especially if, as one commentator put it, “this attack is neither surprising nor unjustified“.

• … was it because it was a bear? – Ever since President “Teddy” Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear, (it never happened, by the way, that just another “modern myth”) we’ve had a sort of love  affair with bears … they are so big and cuddly … who didn’t have a “Teddy Bear” as a child? … do you remember the loveable rogue Yogi Bear and  his friend Boo Boo?, or the fuss made over the “cute” Polar Bear in the Berlin Zoo, Knut?, or …
• … was it because it was a trained performing bear?,- but there have been a number of such incidents in the past, some of them quite famous, and even professional trainers are aware that such captive bears are large, powerful creatures, that often revert to a “wild state” governed by natural instincts, or …
• … was it the ice skates? – that got a lot of attention in the blogs and commentaries added by surfers, or …
• … was it because it was a “Russian” circus – and offered a chance to hit back at the Russians?  Sky News, in particular, made special mention of the fact that the incident came just days after they had featured a report “exposing” the death-defying stunts circus animals are forced to perform in Russia and pointing out that “more than 3,000 animals perform in circuses in Russia but there are no laws banning cruelty”, or …
• … was it because it happened in Kyrgyzstan – a “strange” country which few of heard of, or know where to find on a map.  A country that is  easy to make jokes about … the spelling of the name, with two ‘y’s and a ‘z’, which so many people seem to have trouble pronouncing.  It was a traveling circus and could have happened anywhere where the circus was performing, including London, Paris or New York, or …
• … was it a combination of all of the above, or …
• … what?

Then, there was the fact that although a lot of people expressed sympathy for the bear … (“I’m on the side of the bears every time“, “Good for the bear.” … and, let me be clear about this, I feel very sorry for the bear as well), there was only one comment that I saw which expressed any symapthy for the dead man and his family or for the one who was critically ill in hospital, (“I am appalled by the loss of life, and very sorry for the man’s family and friends. I wish a speedy recovery to the other person involved who has been badly mauled and sounds critical.”).  It seemed to me that for many of the commentators assumed that they were the “guilty party” and had got what they deserved … a sort of guilt by association because they were involved in a circus which put bears on skates …

Now, personally, I am not very fond of circuses, either here in Bishkek or in the West,  although I have been to several circus performances and have to admit that I do admire the skill and daring of the performers.

I remember, for example, visiting traveling circuses that pitched their “big top” on the Malvern Common when I was a boy.  The tents never seemed to be that “big”, they were certainly nowhere near as big as the marble clad circular building in Bishkek, although the straw strewn around made it seem more “authentic” as an experience than the rather cold and spacious auditorium on Frunze Street.

If I say that am not keen on circuses, that does not that I am an anti-circus – or particularly pro-animal rights.  It is just that it always seems to me that there is something worrying about the vicarious pleasure that the audience gets while watching dangerous, “death defying”, acrobatics or something demeaning when they watch trained animals act out what are “unnatural” scenarios, whether it be cats and dogs, horses, elephants, lions and tigers … or bears.

It’s as if people are expected to derive pleasure from seeing a potential disaster averted … but, knowing that one is always possible, and waiting for it to happen … Well, it happened.

I would have like to have heard Alistair Cooke’s take on the story.

Tags: Expat, In_the_News, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Press