ACT Now - The Saddest Dance - India's Battered Bears, Cross Post, Please

[Guest guest]

ACT/ The Saddest Dance - India’s Battered Bears KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY - PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST AS WRITTEN 11/30/07: The Saddest Dance - India’s Battered Sloth Bears KINSHIP CIRCLE ACTION CAMPAIGN http://www.KinshipCircle.org PHOTO: http://www.iar.org.uk/india/dancing-bears.shtml It has been

illegal to own or ‘dance’ a bear in India since 1972. However, illegal trade continues with more than 100 cubs illegally captured from the wild each year and sold. SOURCE OF INFORMATION: World Society for the Protection of Animals wspa VIDEO / India’s Dancing Bears http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/2190_dancing_bears_november_07.cfm?broadcastID=154 & linkID=6869 & ID=36379 India: Dancing Bears http://www.iar.org.uk/india/dancing-bears.shtml Directory Of Indian Government Websites http://goidirectory.nic.in/ =========================================================== CONTACT INFO / EMAIL BLOCK SAMPLE LETTER FOLLOWS Kinship Circle does not guarantee all email addresses will work. Some may be outdated or disabled due to this campaign. Try again later. =========================================================== COMPLETE CONTACT INFORMATION: Honorable President Of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil email: presidentofindia website: http://presidentofindia.nic.in/ Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India Vice-President's House * 6, Maulana Azad Road * New Delhi - 110 011 (INDIA) ph: 011-23016422, 23016344 email: vpindia website: http://164.100.24.167/Chairman-Rajyasabha/writetochairman.htm Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India South Block, Raisina Hill * New Delhi, India -110 011 ph: 91-11-23012312; fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857 web email: http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm Sh. Sevugan Regupathy, Minister of State for Environment & Forests TS. No. 3108, East Second Street * Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu (INDIA) ph: (04322) 227799 email: r.sevugan Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests,

Paryavaran Bhavan CGO Complex, Lodhi Road * New Delhi - 110 003 (INDIA) ph: +91-11-2436 1896, 24360605, 24360570, 24360519 email: envisect website: http://envfor.nic.in/ Smt. Ambika Soni, Minister of Tourism & Culture RNo 301, Transport Bhawan 1, Parliament Street * New Delhi - 110 001 (INDIA) ph: 91-11-23717969; 91-11-23718310; 91-11-23710431 fax: 91-11-23731506; 91-11-23321397 email: tourismminister, ps-mtc, ps2motc, santha, jmukharjee2001, rsguptagad India Embassy In The United States Ambassador Ronen Sen 2107 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. * Washington D.C. 20008 ph: 202-939-7000; fax: 202-265-4351 email: ambassador, dcmoff, culturewing website: http://www.indianembassy.org/embassy/contact.htm INDIAN EMBASSIES IN OTHER COUNTRIES: http://www.indianembassy.org/newsite/govtofindialinks.asp#6 ALL EMAILS IN THIS ALERT: presidentofindia, vpindia, r.sevugan, envisect, tourismminister, ps-mtc, ps2motc, santha, jmukharjee2001, rsguptagad, ambassador, dcmoff, culturewing =========================================================== SAMPLE LETTER Sample letters are

prepared to give you ample background on an issue. Try to change some words, pare down letters, and make them your own. **DELETE ALL REFERENCES TO KINSHIP CIRCLE BEFORE SENDING** =========================================================== Honorable Government Officials of India: Please uphold longstanding Indian law that illegalizes owning or "dancing" a bear. With roughly 8,000 non-captive sloth bears left in India, the World Conservation Union classifies this species as "vulnerable." Moreover, the use of dancing bears to amuse tourists is an unusually cruel form of entertainment. Over 100 cubs are unlawfully snatched from the wild each year. Sloth bears, some only weeks old, are seized from mothers shot dead before their eyes. Many succumb to starvation, dehydration, suffocation or shock during long journeys with Kalandar gypsies who use them to beg for money.

An estimated 500 to 600 sloth bears are forced into lives of misery. Wild bears may live over 20 years; as dancing bears, they die by seven or eight years of age. As babies, the bears' teeth are filed to render them defenseless. Later their tender muzzles are pierced with a fire-heated needle to thread a training rope through mutilated bone, cartilage and nerve membrane. Trainers drag bears by these ropes to control them and make them perform unnatural stunts such as balancing upon two legs. The rope grinds against a bear's open wound, leading to chronic infections. Agitated bears appear to "dance." In reality, they are frantic to escape the pain. Over time the bears are so conditioned to "dance" on hot plates, they begin their weary waltz as soon as they hear familiar music. Most endure lifelong malnutrition and abuse that can result in blindness, intestinal disorders and behavioral aberrations such as chronic pacing.

Many tourists will not vacation in countries that condone or ignore such blatant cruelty. I urge government officials to enforce the Indian Wildlife Protection Act and subsidize bear sanctuaries for retired dancing bears, all of whom are too disfigured and tame to survive in the wild. Please permanently end the dancing bear trade and help Kalandar nomads find new means of employment. Thank you, *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** Kinship Circle Fact Sheet Library: 50+ Topics For Your Advocacy Materials 8.5 x 11” Fact

Sheets with compelling photos + timely info, stats, studies. Well-reasoned literature to educate others on the animals’ behalf. DONATE to help us print/distribute KC literature: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/donation/ DOWNLOAD FREE FACT SHEETS: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/fact_sheets/ * Use entire high-resolution PDF of any KC Fact Sheet * Crop select photos + fact bites to make your own posters, flyers... YOUR DONATION KEEPS OUR VOICE ALIVE: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/donation/ *************************************************************************************************** Kinship Circle Action Campaigns I Literature I Animal Disaster Aid Networking BEAR WITNESS. SPEAK. DEMAND. ACT. Brenda Shoss, president * Janet Enoch, vice-president info or kinshipcircle http://www.KinshipCircle.org * http://www.kinshipcircle.org/disasters/ *************************************************************************************************** UNSUBSCRIBE: * NEVER USE YOUR JUNK FILTER. Don’t ruin KC list for others! * Select a Kinship Circle ALERT received in your mailbox. * Hit “FORWARD” * Enter kinshipcircle and send. [Type UNSUBSCRIBE in your subject line]. * Make sure the “To” line from our original alert is in your email, LIKE THIS: Kinship Circle Monday, April 10, 2006 11:34 AM 7. KINSHIP CIRLE

LETTER/ Costco Brings Back Baby Seal Oil Capsules *************************************************************************************************** SUBSCRIBE: 1. Kinship Circle Primary: Action campaigns on animal cruelty issues worldwide TELL US: SUBSCRIBE TO KINSHIP CIRCLE PRIMARY 2. Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Relief: kinshipcircle Animal rescue coordination/news in disasters + companion animal alerts

TELL US: SUBSCRIBE TO KINSHIP CIRCLE ANIMAL DISASTER RELIEF IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT OF LOUISIANA OR MISSISSIPPI *************************************************************************************************** *