by Mushroom

Created on: December 15, 2008   Last Updated: January 11, 2009

WHO REMEMBERS THOSE ESSEX BEARS ?

It was during the late fifties that Ron Gipson the landlord of the Bear public house at Noak Hill in Romford, Essex, was admitted to Harold Wood hospital where he met Fred Haynes. Ron Gipson became good friends with Fred Haynes who was the owner of a miniature zoo based at Pilgrims Hatch in Brentwood. One of Fred's animal's was a large, black, female, Himalayan, Sloth bear named Rannie, and she became the first bear to be introduced to the garden of the Bear public house. Rannie became a huge success with the Bear's customers that other animals and birds were then added to create the Bear's zoo. The Bear became so popular that an adjoining field was opened-up to cater for the thousand to fifteen hundred regular customers who flocked to see their star bear Rannie.

It was during the sixties at Braintree in Essex that a circus with the name Count Garzar was selling-up before moving to South Africa. Mr. Archer purchased a couple of trucks, a marquee and various tackle. He also purchased four, brown, baby, Himalayan bears and a lions cage to house his newly acquired fluffy friends. Later he decided to sell two of the bears, but he also decided to give one of these bears to his friend Fred Haynes who had the experience of rearing bears and other animals in his own privately owned miniature zoo.

Mr. Archer decided to keep one of the bears for himself as a pet and to which he gave the name Honey. At first Honey was a very cuddly, young, female, Himalayan bear who must have brought much joy to Mr. Archer and his family. But Honey was growing-up fast and she was developing her physique at an alarming rate. With her growing strength she became more active and difficult to control, and so it became necessary to keep Honey in her cage for longer periods of time. It was not long after this clamp down that Mr. Archer began to think seriously about Honey's disturbing development which brought into play the question of his family's security.

This is when Mr. Archer's troubles began when he decided to keep Honey in her cage permanently. Honey was locked-up twenty four hours a day, and this is when Honey became restless and frustrated. As Mr. Archer was to discover in his horror the lions cage was not designed as a frustration room for a bear with powerful arms and sharp teeth. Mr. Archer became increasing concerned by the noise of Honey's frustration as she began to roar and snarl more frequently. Later he became very frightened indeed when he saw her starting to rip and tear through the walls of her cage. When Mr. Archer came home one evening to his horror he made a grave discovery, Honey had ripped a hole through the roof of her cage, so as a temporary measure he nailed a sheet of corrugated iron over the hole in the roof of the cage.

For Mr. Archer the tragic news of Rannie's death opened up the cage door for Honey to become the new star of the show at the Bear public house. When Mr. and Mrs Gipson retired Honey was taken to Linton zoo in Cambrideshire. There was a Brown bear at Colchester zoo and this may have originally belonged to Count Garzar

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