On July 10, a convoy of vehicles with a police escort made its way across the border from Nepal to India, in a journey that took 30-hours. At the heart of the convoy, in an animal ambulance, was Rangila, Nepal's last known 'dancing bear'.
The long journey from a substandard zoo in Nepal to Wildlife SOS' specialist sloth bear sanctuary in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, was nothing less than significant. For after months of intense lobbying by animal rescuers, a Cabinet decision by the Nepalese government approved the repatriation of the 19-year-old bear to India.
Rangila's journey to freedom and safety has been extremely challenging. In December 2017, World Animal Protection and the Jane Goodall Institute of Nepal rescued Rangila together with a 17-year-old female sloth bear named SriDevi from their owners who used the bears as street performers.
How do you get a bear to dance?
Rangila and SriDevi were poached from the wild as cubs and smuggled across the border to Nepal, where their owners trained them to become 'dancing bears'.
To make 'dancing bears' submissive, harsh training methods are employed to make the bears stand on their hind legs for hours at a time, and perform for people.
At eight-months-old, the skin and cartilage of their muzzles are pierced with a hot iron rod. The handlers then puts a chain or rope through this wound to enable them to control the bear at will. One can only imagine the pain and torture these bears go through in being subjected to such a procedure.
Rangila and SriDevi were the last two known 'dancing bears' in Nepal to have endured such suffering.
At the time of their rescue, both bears had injuries on their muzzle and their teeth had also been removed to ensure they would not attack their owners.
Like other dancing bears, Their training from the time they were cubs, involved standing on a metal platform, with burning rods beneath, to avoid the heat, the bears would move their feet to gain some relief from the heat, as the poor bears moved their feet, their owners would play musical instruments to make it seem as if the bears were dancing to the tune.
Outlawed practice
Ironically, Nepal outlawed the use of performing bears by street performers in 1973. Unfortunately the tradition remained in the southern part of the country, as men such as Mohammed Salman and Mohammad Momtaz who owned Rangila and SriDevi, eked out a living by making the bears perform for the entertainment of spectators.
Far from the eyes of law enforcement personnel, Rangila and SriDevi were taken by their masters from one place to another, wherever there might be an audience, eager for such 'amusement'.
It's sad that both the sloth bears endured this life for almost 20 years, despite the practice being outlawed both in India and the Himalayan nation in the early 1970's.
An end to slavery
Neil D'Cruze, global wildlife adviser from World Animal Protection and Manoj Gautam the executive director of Jane Goodall Institute Nepal had been tracking the movement of the bears and their handlers for more than a year.
However when rescuers finally arrived at a remote border town, the last known location of the sloth bears and their owners, they were unable to locate them.
Finally with the help of police who traced the mobile phones of the two handlers, the bears were confiscated in the southeastern town of Iharbari.
The owners surrendered the two bears at the district police station. They were let off with a stern warning and were made to sign legal documents, a warning that if they were found with a bear again, they would face harsh punishment.
The men were also given temporary jobs, as a means to provide them with economic opportunities as part of efforts to put an end to such practices which result in cruelty and suffering for sloth bears such as Rangila and SriDevi.
The zoo is not a sanctuary
Initially after their rescue, the bears were sent to the Parsa National Park. Once the necessary paperwork had been signed, they would be moved over the border to Wildlife SOS' sanctuary in India. This however was not to be.
For reasons not known to the rescue team, the bears were moved to a zoo in Kathmandu described as 'substandard' where animals were reportedly kept in poor conditions.
When officials from World Animal Protection learnt of the plight of the bears, SriDevi had already died in captivity, determined that Rangila would not suffer a similar fate, World Animal Protection with the assistance of the Jane Goodall Institute of Nepal lobbied the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to approve the repatriation of Rangila to the sanctuary in India.
After months of intense efforts on behalf of Nepal's last dancing bear, their efforts finally bore fruit early this month. After much suffering, Rangila will retire to a sanctuary that is home to some 200 sloth bears, rescued from captivity like him.
Legislation to end cruelty
This cruel trade which no longer exist in Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, India and Nepal, still exist in Pakistan where the government hopes to gradually put an end to this practise.
In 2015, the government passed legislation that makes it illegal to own a bear and use it for dancing, begging and baiting.
The federal government and provincial authorities are also microchipping captive bears to prevent further poaching. The government also plans to rescue these captive bears to be placed in a sanctuary and to provide alternative economic opportunities to their owners.
The government's National Bear Action Plan, expected to come in force by 2020, will further such conservation efforts.
It is hoped that animal welfare laws and conservation efforts will finally put an end to the use of wild animals for slave labour and human entertainment.
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