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STOP ANIMAL CRUELTY
International Animal Rescue - Savior of India’s Dancing Bears
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The images
in the following program
are highly sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However,
we have to show the truth
about cruelty to animals,
praying that
you will help to stop it.
This is Supreme Master
Television’s
Stop Animal Cruelty series.
The non-profit
organization
International Animal Rescue
was established
in September 1989
and has branches
in the UK, India, the US,
the Netherlands,
Indonesia and Malta.
International Animal Rescue
aids suffering animals
around the world
by saving them from
dire situations
and re-homing them
in caring sanctuaries
or back into their
natural environments,
depending on their fitness.
Being an advocacy group
for animals,
International Animal Rescue
and its members support
the adoption of
a wise, compassionate
vegetarian way of life.
For their benevolent work,
the organization received
the Shining World
Compassion Award from
Supreme Master Ching Hai.
Today we examine
the dancing bear trade
in India, an industry
that International
Animal Rescue and
other groups have now
effectively shut down.
Dancing bears are
Sloth bears, a species
whom for centuries have
suffered harsh mistreatment
at the hands of humans.
Mothers normally
have one cub.
It’s normally inside a den,
which could be a cave.
And unfortunately,
wherever animals tend
to be useful to humans,
humans tend to
want to exploit them.
And in particular
we’ve had a real problem
in India
where for 300 years,
the Kalandar (people)
have been dancing bears
in order to earn money.
And originally they did it
for the Mughal Emperors,
where they would
go into the courts
of the Mughal Emperors
and it would be
an entertainment.
And that quickly turned
into superstition where
they’d go into villages
and people would
take hairs from the bear
or have their children ride
on the back of the bear.
In the modern era
Sloth bears were trained
to imitate
Bollywood dances
or do other types
of performances
to earn money for those
who imprisoned them.
India outlawed dancing
bear performances
in 1972; however,
many wild bears
continued to be captured,
whipped and forced
to dance because of
tourists from abroad
patronizing these events.
The trend
of an increasing number
of visitors to India
meant this cruel form of
so-called “entertainment”
spread to
all parts of the country.
In 2010, after seven years
of tireless work by
International Animal Rescue
and the India-based
non-profit organization
Wildlife S.O.S.,
dancing bears were
no longer found
on the streets of India.
Poaching has dropped
dramatically as well with
International Animal Rescue
now estimating
that nationwide
only two to three bears
are poached a year.
How did this
savage industry operate?
First, poachers would
snatch a cub who was
just a few weeks of age
from their mother,
who typically died trying
to fight off
their baby’s captors.
Having their mother
murdered
was only the beginning
of the cub’s tragic life.
The extremely frightened
baby was typically sold
to the Kalandar people.
But before reaching
the buyers’ villages,
most cubs would
die of dehydration,
hunger or injury.
In fact 60 to 70% did not
survive this transit stage.
The way dancing bears
began their
so-called “training”
was horrendous.
Their captors would shut
the helpless youngsters
in dark, upside-down
baskets without
food, water or contact
to make the cubs
submissive to their orders.
In order to control the bear,
they had to
do certain things
to try to subdue them.
And unfortunately
that involved knocking
their teeth out, which
they do with an iron bar
and they’re knocked out
at the gum level
so the roots are still
inside the mouth.
So that means that you have
four canine teeth roots
causing terrible pain.
They also put
a red hot poker
through the muzzle, so
that’s at the top of the nose,
right on the bridge here.
And then they put a rope
through that hole and
that comes down
and out through the mouth,
and up over the top
of the head.
And we’re in a situation
there where
by pulling that rope
it hurts them.
So we have a situation
where everything
that those people
want the animal to do,
they do through inflicting
pain on the animal.
The process of “teaching”
the bear to dance
was utterly inhumane.
Torturous practices
used by captors included
making the cubs stand
on scorching hot coals
to force them
to stand upright.
The trainers also
beat the cubs’ feet,
so that the bears would
lift them to avoid the pain.
After a certain amount
of this harrowing abuse,
the cubs automatically
lifted their feet as soon as
they heard the trainers
hit the ground.
I’ve learned
over the last 35 years
of working in this area
that animals only do things
because they’re abused
or hurt and
are made to do them.
Very, very rarely
does an animal do
something to please you;
they will do it
when you beat them.
And these animals are
trained to play the guitar,
to smoke
fictitious cigarettes,
to jump up and down
on their hind legs
and generally do all
these demeaning things
that we really
don’t want to see.
When dancing bear cubs
became adults,
the trainers used
even more vicious force,
employing sticks
to hit them
in the faces and bodies
to control them.
In terms of diet,
most of those who formerly
danced bears for a living
were not well off,
so they couldn’t afford
to give the bears
anything healthy to eat.
Due to severe malnutrition
and the constant physical
and emotional trauma,
many of the bears
frequently contracted
pneumonia, shed their fur
and/or became
cataract-stricken.
And in order to subdue them
when they’re out
dancing on the streets,
they’re fed
really cheap alcohol.
So again their health is
reduced because the liver
becomes compromised
because obviously
the liver function
with a lot of alcohol
is reduced.
So, all in all,
these animals are
in pretty dire condition.
Add to that the lack of
proper food and the fact
that they live on scraps,
generally these bears
have a really sad life.
Veterinary care was
typically non-existent
as the captors
could not afford it
even if they did wish
to spend money
to heal a sick bear.
Statistics tell us that
in the first year following
their imprisonment,
40% of dancing bears cubs
died from the torture
they experienced
and very few bears
lived longer than
seven or eight years.
By contrast,
the average life span
of Sloth bears in the wild
is up to 30 years.
So by constant beating
and constant abuse,
these animals do become
mentally traumatized.
And this represents itself
as stereotypical behavior,
where you’ll see
the constant jogging
backwards and forwards
or rocking
backwards and forwards.
And this is a sign that
the animal’s bored and
has got a mental problem.
It is doing this
stereotypical repeating
of the same movements
all the time, which is very,
very disturbing to see.
Fortunately dancing bears
are now a thing
of the past in India, however
that does not mean
the bears are out of danger.
The circle’s been broken
so the poaching
has now stopped as well.
I’m not saying that it’s
absolutely stopped 100%,
because there’s
still markets for bears.
There are bear parts
which go into medicines
like the paws, and
there’s bear paw soup
which people drink.
And they’re still being used.
There’s also bear baiting
(dogs fighting bears)
up in Pakistan.
So some bears will find
their way up there through
these illegal channels.
So we have to be vigilant
and we have to
keep the patrols going;
we have to keep
investigators and informers
in the marketplace
so that we’re in a position
where we could be ready
to strike and make sure
these bears aren’t abused.
They go out
into the countryside and
they find out by being
with Kalandar people
who’s got these animals
for sale.
And we very often
set up a sting where
we will pose as traders
and that we want
to buy these animals.
And when they come
to sell them to us,
we’ll arrive
with the police and
we’ll seize the animals
and arrest the people.
So we don’t do
any trade with them
whatsoever.
They’re arrested.
Some of them
have gone to prison
for seven years under
the Animal Welfare Act.
A continuing threat
to the Sloth bears
is a rapidly shrinking
natural habitat.
The land is reducing
where they could live.
When you have
1.2 billion people
in the country,
you’re in a situation
where you’re already
finding it hard
to find places to live,
so the wild areas
are becoming reduced,
and the encroachment
of humans
onto the bears’ territory
is always increasing.
So it’s a real problem
to try and find areas
that can be protected,
and that’s an area
that we’re pushing now.
Over the years
International Animal Rescue
has saved
600 dancing bears
from the streets of India.
The group has
two sanctuaries to
rehabilitate and re-home
these gentle bears,
one in Northern India
in Agra and another
near Bangalore
in Southern India.
And we have
over 250 acres
throughout India, not all
in the same place, but
certainly areas of 50 acres
where they can roam free.
But they do tend to
get together in groups,
and they do play with
each other, rolling over,
generally jumping
on each other,
the younger ones love it.
We do have
organized feeding;
I was on one maybe two,
three months ago.
And we went out
with a Land Rover
into the enclosure, and
we had lots of watermelons
and they love it.
Here are
some closing thoughts
from Mr. Knight
about dancing bears.
Finishing
the dancing bear trade
was obviously something
that we were
passionate about.
And I’m delighted
to have done that
within seven years
of starting the project.
But of course
that’s the first phase, and
the most important phase,
I think, because we’ve
stopped the suffering of
the animals on the streets.
We’ve now got
probably 20 to 30 years
of looking after
these wonderful bears.
We are deeply grateful,
Mr. Alan Knight and
International Animal Rescue
as well as Wildlife S.O.S.
for ending
the dancing bear industry
in India and safeguarding
other beautiful animals
on Earth.
May your
magnificent missions
of animal protection always
be blessed by Heaven.
For more details
on International
Animal Rescue,
please visit
www.InternationalAnimalRescue.org
To learn more about
Wildlife S.O.S.,
please visit
www.WildlifeSOS.org
Thank you
for your company
on today’s program.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May all animals
forever enjoy
peaceful and happy lives.
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