Baiting bears was a favourite show-of-choice in Elizabethan times.  Bears a mentioned a few times in Shakespeare - most noticeably in the rare stage instruction "Exit pursued by a bear" in The Winter's Tale.  And in Merry Wives of Windsor, Slender is much more interested in bears and dogs than in the lovely Anne Page!  Surprisingly, there has not been much research on bears in Elizabethan England, but this website (above) plans to right that neglect.  Check it out for some interesting facts and tales about all things bears in Shakespeare's England.