News
Uttar Pradesh: Changing the destiny of dancing bears
April 29, 2009, 6:45PM MT
By Sharon St. Joan
Saving one bear at a time!
Saving one bear at a time!
By Sharon St Joan, Best Friends Network
From November 20 - December 10 of last year, Kate Schnepel and Nikki Sharp, both of Best Friends, were traveling through India.
Haryana is one of the states in Northwest India. It has an incredible history--going back 5,000 years to the earliest Indian cities of the Indus Valley.
As Kate and Nikki stood on the terrain of what is to become an elephant sanctuary run by Wildlife SOS, Kate says that she could look into the distance to see rolling hills and beyond them, snow-capped mountains.
To get to Haryana from Delhi, they had ridden by train for five hours, then driven a couple of hours further. They returned around midnight that same evening after a very long day!
Since 2006, Kate and Nikki have been on the Board of the U.S. branch of Wildlife SOS, along with Carolyn Uhle and Thomas Sharp.
Now, two years since that beginning, it seemed to Kate that it was about time to travel to India--to see the land where Wildlife SOS operated, and where they had all been directing so much of their attention towards helping the animals. Nikki Sharp had previously spent several months with the two founders of Wildlife SOS, Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani.
But Kate had never been to India. So we've interviewed Kate to see what it was like.
They arrived in Delhi, getting in late at night. Kartick (who has limitless energy) picked them up at what seemed like the crack of dawn the next morning!
Introduction to India!
Then Kartick drove them the four and a half hour journey to Wildlife SOS's Bear Sanctuary in Agra. The drive was Kate's introduction to India. The traffic was "surreal," meaning there was lots and lots of it, and everyone seemed just to narrowly miss everyone else by a hair's breadth. As he drove through this bedlam, Kartick was yelling instructions into his cell phone to one of his undercover wildlife people, who was just, at that very moment, in the process of catching a poacher who'd been smuggling tiger skins. Not to worry! At least part of Kartick's attention was on his driving!
As they pulled off the Delhi-Agra ("completely insane"--as Kate describes it) highway, they came upon an astonishingly beautiful lake--peaceful, as if they'd entered another world. This was the Sur Sarovar Lake, which has been a National Bird Sanctuary since 1991.
There in its waters can be found bar-headed geese, brahminy ducks, Siberian cranes and around one hundred other species of birds. A part of the Sur Sarovar Refuge has been given to Wildlife SOS to be used as a sanctuary for the dancing bears they have rescued from the streets of India.
They pulled up to an imposing gate--very imposing, with armed guards. Inside were more armed guards, strolling along a dirt road.
On either side of the roadway, bear faces peered curiously through the fencing. Here the bears are housed together in groups, since bears are social animals.
The story of each bear is remarkable. Each one has been rescued. A tribal people, the Kalaendars, has for generations made a living by using "dancing" (they don't really dance) bears in order to beg from tourists. Because this is the people's only source of income, in order to rescue the bears, one must also rehabilitate the people.
Rehabilitating people too!
Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani, the founders of Wildlife SOS have found a way to do just that! They have given the Kalaendar people new livelihoods and have rescued over 500 bears from a life of misery on the streets.
Kate watched the evening feeding of the bear cubs, dozens of whom live together. First, all the bowls are lined up in a long row, then they are filled with porridge. When all is ready, the gate is opened, and a swarm of hungry cubs swoop down on the bowls-- making a giant "slurping" sound!
The caretakers know every cub by name.
When they visited a Kalaendar village, it was more like a section of the town--not a separate village of huts as Kate had expected. Dave, a social worker hired by Wildlife SOS, goes there to help the Kalaendar people with their new businesses. He had brought one of the women supplies for her store. One of the other businesses sells offerings and various temple supplies--for the nearby temple. Other women were busy weaving rugs.
There may have been 80 to 100 people in the Kalaendar section of the town. Auto-rickshaws--which really do exist--have three wheels, with a seat for two passengers and a seat for the driver. Here an auto rickshaw is called a "tuk tuk." One man introduced himself, "I'm Raja, the tuk-tuk man!" Beside him stood his two auto-rickshaws, all decked out in bright paint and elaborate decorations.
Providing an alternate way for people to make a living is essential to the "dancing bear" program. The Kalaendar people have never learned any other skills or trades, and without the extra effort spent helping them, they would soon find themselves looking for another bear cub--and falling back into the "dancing bear" business.
Some of the Kalaendars who love their bears, have gone with them to the sanctuary, where they now work as bear caregivers. In spite of this apparent good will toward the bears--there is a tremendous amount of suffering involved in being a dancing bear--a lot of discomfort and some permanent injuries, often resulting in blindness.
Coincidentally, the first night Kate and Nikki spent in Agra, where the bear sanctuary is, was the night of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Without internet and without TV, they were only aware of a vast amount of texting that seemed to be happening all around them--and a very disconcerting feeling--(which cleared up only when they began to hear about what had happened).
How much has been accomplished
Wildlife SOS has mostly eliminated the sad fate of the "dancing bears." In the beginning, when they first started, it was estimated that there were 1200 dancing bears in India. 520 have now been given sanctuary. Sadly, some others have died in the natural course of time. Also the message has gradually spread that this is not a kind way to treat bears or a good way to make a living, so people do by themselves now look for other means of support. It is estimated that there are only around 100 dancing bears left on the streets. After they have all been brought into sanctuary, it is hoped that no further bears will have to suffer in that way.
In the meantime, Kartick manages a network of informants across the country, in an attempt to save young cubs from being taken out of the forest and sold to become dancing bears. Although this happens a lot less than it used to, it does still happen. Sometimes those who have been convicted as poachers and sentenced to prison can be persuaded to join the side of law enforcement against poaching.
This is a complicated, not entirely safe business. There are sting operations, staking out houses, last minute tips from informants. When an arrest is to be made, the police and the forest department are called in to make the arrest and take custody of the suspects. The cubs, who are then often rescued just as they are about to change hands, are led off to the bear nursery at Agra, to join their fellow cubs--and later on to have some porridge.
All this is just one aspect of the multi-faceted work being done by Wildlife SOS--amazing how much can be accomplished with vision and determination!
We'll save for another time, their work with elephants, birds, deer--all kinds of wildlife--and the work of their sister organization, Friendicoes, with dogs, cats, and donkeys.
What you can do
To read more about Wildlife SOS or to help with a donation, please go to
http://www.wildlifesos.org/
To read other Best Friends Network stories about Wildlife SOS, please go to
http://network.bestfriends.org/india/news/31160.html
http://network.bestfriends.org/india/news/24573.html
http://network.bestfriends.org/india/news/30945.html
Top photo: Kate Schnepel / a bear caretaker with one of the bears
Second photo: Wildlife SOS / Kartick Satyanarayan with one of the bears
Third photo: Kate Schnepel / a young Kalaendar girl
Fourth photo: Kate Schnepel / "Raja - the tuk tuk man"
Fifth photo: Kate Schnepel / Nikki Sharp, Board member of Wildlife SOS in the U.S.