Other Uses of Animals
To vary the entertainment, different animals were often pitted against each other. For example a bear against a bull, a lion against a tiger, or an elephant against a bull. The surviving beast was then often killed by a bestiarii. Also, the beasts could be killed by hunting dogs.
One of the Roman forms of execution was by throwing convicted criminals to wild beasts. This is known as ad bestias. The executions took place during The Games, because an audience was present and the animals were ready. Often lions would be starved for three days in preparation for the execution.
