I've been lucky enough to spend time with several species of bear but when I visited Karnataka in India, I found sloth bears to be one of the most endearing and characterful of them all (to find out how the Sloth Bear got its name read my post from April 2012). My first stop was the Daroji bear sanctuary in Hampi, to see bears living in the wild. This visit would resonate deeply when I later visited the Bannerghata Bear Rescue Centre, to meet bears that had been rescued from a life of torture as a dancing bear.
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Bear hug, two youngsters tussle at Daroji
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'They are severely malnourished and are only given the very poorest food to survive on' says Sammad who is still moved to tears by his experiences 'when we rescue them they are in really bad shape'.
Read more in my blog post from 2009.
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Seeing wild bears at Daroji made my subsequent trip to the Bannerghata Bear Rescue Centre even more heart-wrenching. Here I was introduced to some of the resident bears, and showed the strict daily routines that the vets and carers go through to ensure that these charismatic animals live out the rest of their days, trouble free and as healthy as can be. To see the drastic and devastating effect that 'dancing' has had on Sloth Bears is something that will stay with me for a long time.
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The video above was originally posted in 2009 and received over 200,000 views, later that year the last dancing bear was rescued from the streets of India. The trade continues in Russia and China. Following a viral attack originating in Russia, this video was inexplicably removed from YouTube - we believe that this was the work of those opposing conservation organisations who are trying to stop the trade. To help support the continuing work of Wildlife SOS, and ensure that these rescued bears can be cared for, please visit www.wildlifesos.org
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Slobbering Sloth Bears
As I wrote in my field diary "As he walked his fluffy backside swayed like a big furry John Wayne. He looked satisfied as he approached a nice patch of honey. Adjusting his posture and almost crossing his legs, he hunched over to crinkle his soft snout up against the ground - like a pig snorting in a trough. When he was finished with one patch he stood up and waddled across to another. Not a care in the world the bear was completely oblivious to our presence."
Wild Sloth Bear, Daroji
Wild Sloth Bear, scratching, Daroji
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"Sloth Bears have really poor eye sight and can see little further than 10 metres, so as long as we remained still and silent we would be able to observe the bears feeding, joyous in their slobbering glory. Occasionally the bear would surface from its sticky honey treat, raising his nose and opening his mouth like a panting dog. He was tasting the air and I wondered if he could detect the strangers in his midst. If he could then he must have decided that he had more important matters to attend to and chowed back down."
Dancing No More
At Daroji I met Samad Kottur, a local science teacher, who works with Wildlife SOS to protect and rescue Sloth Bears. Most of the bears that he has rescued have been from the brutal art of bear dancing - a traditional livelihood which has been practiced in rural India for centuries but which has been illegal since the wildlife protection act of 1972.
Stolen from their mothers young sloth bear cubs are sold to the traditional dancing bear community known as Kollanders. 'Here they begin a life of pain and discomfort.' Sammad told me that 'after a few months their canines are ripped out, their claws are clipped, males are castrated and a red hot iron is used to pierce their sensitive nuzzle through which a coarse rope is threaded.' it is the pain of pulling on this rope that makes them dance as they are dragged from village to village and made to perform, standing on their hind legs and used as puppets on a string.
'They are severely malnourished and are only given the very poorest food to survive on' says Sammad who is still moved to tears by his experiences 'when we rescue them they are in really bad shape'.
Read more in my blog post from 2009.
Rescued Sloth Bear Cub. Photo: Troy Snow
The Last Dancing Bear
The video above was originally posted in 2009 and received over 200,000 views, later that year the last dancing bear was rescued from the streets of India. The trade continues in Russia and China. Following a viral attack originating in Russia, this video was inexplicably removed from YouTube - we believe that this was the work of those opposing conservation organisations who are trying to stop the trade. To help support the continuing work of Wildlife SOS, and ensure that these rescued bears can be cared for, please visit www.wildlifesos.org
Dancing bear with rope through his muzzle. Photograph by Troy Snow (used with permission)