“a culture in which the divinity of bears, which always were where the wild things are and which remain most present to children before they have been improved into adults, has been re-engineered into an endless consumer market for teddy bears. Pastoureau*: “In the twentieth century, zoo and circus bears were no longer the only types of bear that amused children. The animal gradually entered every house, every bedroom, in the form of a toy, and was becoming the child’s closest companion”.”

Mountains, Rivers, and the Great Earth - reading Gary Snyder & Dōgen in an Age of Ecological Crisis (Jason M.Wirth)

*Reference to Michel Pastoureau, The Bear: History of a Fallen King

***

PS Teddy Bears were named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt.