JOIN USOn a recent trip to Agra, I discovered that the city has so much more to offer than the iconic Taj Mahal. Once such is Wildlife SOS’s ‘Agra Bear Rescue Facility’. Wildlife SOS was established in 1995 by Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani. It was started with the belief that providing sustainable alternative livelihoods and education to communities dependent on wildlife and natural resources would lead to a sustainable wildlife protection. “Our organisation is responsible for taking action against animal cruelty, rescuing wildlife in distress and working to resolve man-animal conflicts while educating the public about the need for habitat protection,” says Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder and chairman, Wildlife SOS .
Wildlife SOS operates several wildlife rehabilitation facilities across India,
including one of the world’s largest sloth bear rescue centre. Wildlife SOS’s major project was the abolition of the dancing bears practice in which sloth bear cubs were poached from the wild and trained using cruel methods, particularly in Kalandars, a nomadic tribe. Geeta Seshamani, Wildlife SOS co-founder and secretary explains, “We realised that due to extreme conditions of poverty and lack of education, they had no alternative means of earning and were wholly dependent on their bears.” The answer, therefore, was in the rehabilitation of the Kalandar communities through education and an alternative livelihood programme.
As a result, over 3,500 Kalandar families are no longer dependent on wildlife crime. They were able to convince the Kalandars to voluntarily give over 620 bears to their care. Additionally, the organisation also established four rescue centres across India.
Overcoming challenges
At Wildlife SOS, the aim is not only to rescue wildlife from distress and abuse, but also to provide the rescued animals with a safer life. Snatched from the wild as cubs by poachers, they were sold into a life of pain. As part of their indoctrination, a red hot poker rod would be driven through the muzzle. A rope would then be strung through painful piercing and tugged to induce performances.
“When it came to rehabilitation, we had to start from scratch as for most of them, a life at the end of the rope was all they had known. So, it was important to focus not just on their physiological recovery but also psychological recovery,” say Kartick and Geeta. “Our team had to teach them to be bears again by encouraging them to hone their natural skills such as foraging.”
Each rescued bear undergoes a 90-day quarantine period during which the bear is given a complete health check up and treated for any diseases and wounds. The bear is vaccinated against rabies, leptospirosis and infectious canine hepatitis. Afterwards, the bears have access to large enclosures where the behaviour and personality of each bear is closely monitored. Based on each bear’s personality, he or she is matched to a group and then moved to a larger area. Wildlife SOS has wildlife veterinarians and a dedicated team of bear keepers to care for the rescued bears.
Over the years, the wild sloth bears population has been threatened due to loss of habitat and poaching. As a result, they have become a vulnerable species under the IUCN Red Data List. Therefore, it is critical that anti-poaching efforts continue. “Our anti-poaching team works with a large network of informers who gather critical intelligence on wildlife criminals and the illegal trade of endangered wild animals,”says Kartick. Wildlife SOS also assists the Forest Department, police and other law enforcement agencies, and also provides legal support if needed.
Moving forward, the organisation hopes to continue their conservation
efforts. “We also plan on strengthening our efforts in preventing illegal wildlife poaching and trade. Furthermore, we plan to develop and implement sustainable solutions for mitigating human-wildlife conflicts in the country,” concludes Geeta.