epaselect epa11048399 Visitors watch a brown bear (Ursus arctos) at the National Zoological Gardens in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 29 December 2023. The practice of keeping wild animals as pets was observed among Sri Lankan monarchs and later continued by European colonizers. The present-day National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka traces its origins to the late 1920s when it was established by John Hagenbeck, a German animal dealer and owner of plantations in Ceylon. EPA/CHAMILA KARUNARATHNE
