Bob Barker asks Cherokee chief to end NC bear pits

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Former game show host and longtime animal rights activist Bob Barker hopes to convince the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina to quit displaying bears in pits and cages as tourist attractions.

Barker met Tuesday with Chief Michell Hicks to discuss the use of bears in Cherokee. Debbie Leahy of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals accompanied him.

Barker will discuss the meeting at a news conference schedule for Wednesday morning in Asheville. He wrote to Hicks in June asking that he close bear pits at three locations.

Hicks told the Asheville Citizen-Times that the tribe follows federal regulations in caring for the bears. Barker says the bear pits are inhumane.

Barker is part American Indian and grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Published 7/29/09 by

AP TV News