NP - Dancing bears - A cruel tune

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Expression»A cruel tune

 

 

MANOJ GAUTAM & LUCIA DE VRIES

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MAR 26 -

On Dec. 18, 2009, Raju, the last dancing bear of India was rescued by

Wildlife SOS, an NGO active in the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife.

The rope that kept Raju captive was removed and the sloth bear was taken to

one of Wildlife SOS’ four rehabilitation centres. Raju was one of the 600

dancing bears surrendered by their owners, who received a rehabilitation

package to help develop a new livelihood as well as free education for their

children.

 

Sadly, in Nepal, bears like Raju continue to dance to the tunes of their

masters. Last week, volunteers with Roots and Shoots rescued Rubina, a

majestic sloth bear cruelly deformed by her owners. Rubina is one of the

five to 10 dancing bears active in Nepal, travelling with her owner from

village to village, starring in a show featuring snake dancing, lucky

charms, and superstitious villagers who pull out hair from the bear’s coat,

believing it brings good luck.

 

Kalandars, or Muslim gypsies, no longer perform such shows openly in India.

However, in Nepal, authorities do not seem to be overly concerned. With

little resources and no rehabilitation centres available this is

understandable to some extent. Especially if one realises that the Central

Zoo is the final destination of all rescued bears.

 

When we recently visited the bear enclosure in the zoo we felt like crying.

The only surviving Himalayan Black Bear has been reduced to a ‘dancing

bear’, pacing along the bars of his tiny enclosure, showing such abnormal

stereotypic behaviour some children assumed he was dancing.

 

For Rubina to end up in the Zoo means a fate worse than a life as a dancing

bear. The enclosure is a dark, dingy brick structure which does not allow

any privacy for the animal. The cages fall short of any zoo standards; they

are among the worst in the world. Instead of replicating the habitat of this

beautiful animal (jungle, water to swim in, trees to climb), the enclosure

features a concrete floor, no furnishings or enrichment, and streams of

visitors who can easily touch or tease the ‘dancing bear’ as well as

transfer disease. Almost as an afterthought, a few tree trunks have been

thrown into the cage.

 

With the zoo open seven days a week and cashing in on close to a million

visitors a year, it doesn’t take a biologist to guess some of the resident

animals suffer from dangerous stress levels, especially the neglected

species such as wild cats, hyenas, jackals, and bears. No wonder three out

of four bears were among the 190 animals which died in the zoo in 2009-10.

 

Among them was Jangoo, a four-and-a-half-month old sloth bear cub, rescued

by Roots and Shoots in April 2008. When the malnourished cub was found in

Lahan it was still intact; its nose had not been pierced, the canines were

intact and its cruel training was yet to commence.

 

Roots and Shoots kept Jangoo at their makeshift rehabilitation centre in

Kathmandu and together with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife

Conservation prepared the cub for a return to the wild. However, after a

complaint from a Kathmandu-based wildlife NGO, to the despair of the

volunteers, Roots and Shoots was forced to hand over Jangoo to the Zoo. She

survived another four months, and then succumbed at the Zoo at the tender

age of one.

 

The Zoo is presently building a new bear enclosure. However, looking at the

tiny space allocated we assume it will not be an enclosure in line with

international welfare guidelines.

 

The sloth bear is the archetypal bear. It is believed that Rudyard Kipling’s

Baloo, the ‘sleepy brown bear’ featuring in Jungle Book was in fact a sloth

bear. The bear has a shaggy black coat, a pale muzzle and white claws. They

are characterised by very long, shaggy ‘collar’ around the back of the head

and on the neck. Sloth bears have long lower lips which can be stretched

over the outer edge of the nose, allowing them to suck up insects such as

ants. They love honey and feed their cubs a mixture of half-digested

jackfruit, wood apples and honey comb. Sloth bears live in small family

groups of five to seven. Sloth bears can be aggressive towards humans, but

avoid contact with people when given the opportunity.

 

The animals are classified as ‘vulnerable’ by IUCN and all international

trade in them is prohibited. Their population is expected to decline by more

than 10 percent in the next ten years. The bears are poached for use in

traditional medicines. For centuries, sloth bear cubs have been captured,

and their mothers killed, to be used as dancing bears.

 

How to make a bear dance? First of all the cub’s nostrils are pierced with a

red hot poker. A control rope is fit into the hole, which usually gets

infected. Its canine teeth are pulled out. Needless to say, no anaesthesia

is used. The training is torturous, aimed to traumatise the cub so it will

obey its master’s orders. After that it is a matter of pulling the rope and

clapping a stick. Another dancing bear is born.

 

In India a unique cooperation between government and NGOs made bear dancing

a thing of the past. The rescued animals now live a peaceful life at

sanctuaries replicating their natural environment. The former owners have

opted for alternative livelihoods while their children receive schooling to

prepare them for a new start.

 

In Nepal too, such a venture could have a high success rate if cross-border

cooperation were to be allowed. The bear owners are usually Indian and

should be extradited to their home country. Keeping these ‘Indian’ bears in

Nepal does not make sense unless a suitable rehabilitation centre has been

developed. In India much effort and resources have been invested in building

sanctuaries where former dancing bears share a well deserved retirement.

 

Rubina, for many years, danced to the tunes of her master. She no longer has

her canine teeth, her nostrils have been permanently damaged and thousands

of people have plucked ‘good luck’ hair from her coat. Nepal has a legal and

moral responsibility towards rescued dancing bears. We appeal to the

authorities to save the life of Rubina. The bear should be allowed to retire

to an Indian sanctuary where she can live a life free of submission and

pain. Only then Rubina will no longer be at the end of her rope.

 

 

*The authors are executive members of the Animal Welfare Network Nepal*

 

 

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