Agra bear rescue facility

watl1

Has anyone been to the sactuary for sloth bears that have been rescued? I believe it's 17km west of Agra and wondered if it was worth a visit?

http://www.wildlifesos.org/IBR/ABRF/ABRF.htm

lotus blossom

i am so glad to see that this rescue operation (for bears and other animals) exists. when i see the dancing bears i think that maybe someone should put a chain on the human and make them dance and perform even when they are too exhausted to move...

i'd like to go there to visit the animals and support the work that they are doing.

from the website:

This agony of grossly swollen muzzles and torn tissues together with a fair amount of beating and systematic starvation usually teaches the bears who the master is. The bears live the rest of their lives at the end of a four foot long rope and with no stimulation at all, thus causing several mental and stereotypical symptoms. Male cubs are also castrated at a very young age to keep their owners safe, again crudely by use of a razor, without anesthesia or antibiotics. Canine teeth are removed when one year old, by knocking them out with a metal rod.

For the rest of its life, the bear will dance on the road to earn money for the Qalandar. The wound on the muzzle will never heal and often be infested with maggots. Most of the bears will "bear" the suffering only for a few years since they will die due to Tuberculosis, Leptrospirosis or Rabies. We have noted that a large number of dancing bears are blind due to malnutrition but were still being used by the Qalandars for dancing.

please do not ever support those who have the dancing bears, not even by stopping to watch them.

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watl1

I know - it's absolutely appalling and I didn't realise the true extent to which the bears suffer.

I'm hoping that I won't come across any such "dancing" bears while I'm away.

lotus blossom

if you visit the taj it's likely that you'll encounter the dancing bears since that seems to be a primary spot where they are exploited. it breaks my heart, the way that they, and the elephants, and the rest of the creatures are treated . how could ganesha be such a revered diety only to be so brutally abused?

lotus blossom

i just made an online donation and it is on my list of places to visit when i next go to india. thanks for the link. just an hour before i logged on to im and read your post, i was wondering what it is that i can do to help with the suffering of elephants. ask and you shall receive

Cameleer

I will be in India late November and hope to spend a few days documenting the life of dancing bears and the treatment received from their owners. Is it all bad, most likely, but I sure hope to find some that are treated with a little kindness.

All too often we only hear about the bad things done by a few bad people. But are there some good bear owners here that treat them well, almost like part of their family. Most likely not from what we see on the internet, but I hope to find some good and see for myself before passing judgment.

nedhopkins

I saw no dancing bears at or near the Taj Mahal.

I saw many of them en route to Fatehpur Sikri. The poor creatues were tethered with short chains to trees -- and whipped into gestures and movements as cars approached.

My driver explained that the bears' masters were all Afghans, not Indians.

watl1

I don't know how I'm going to manage seeing sights like that - I get upset when I see dead animals on the road here in the UK! Good luck with your documentary.

I've arranged a visit to the facility for the beginning of October but a bit unsure how to get there.

We are in Agra on 1st October, do an 8 hour taxi tour of the Taj and Fatehpur, and the next morning catch the train to Bharatpur and connecting train to the station for Ranthambhore.

I might need to post this in the itinerary section - but does anyone have a recommendation on the best way to reach Sur Sarovar where the bear facility is? I've tried looking for maps - but I'm not sure whether it's best to go "en route" to Fatehpur, or whether to get a taxi to Bharatpur and visit the facility the next day on the way to Bharatpur station?

Thanks

tongoka

Last January I saw no dancing bears anywhere. Previously I saw them on a road from Agra to cant remember. But not anymore I am pleased to say.

Tracy

I went on a tour to the Taj Mahal with the Government of India tour office, the official one. The tour guide was a bit seedy. He did a disgusting and obviously deliberate stop by the side of the road where a dancing bear and cobra tout did their 'thing'. Then invited us to give them money. It turned my stomache. The rest of the day he also crept round us, punting for his 'mates', tourist crap and then he allowed the most deformed looking child to do a round of the bus. It broke my heart, totally. I do my own giving when in India, I felt uncomfortable with his help.

Cameleer

I personally would have preferred seeing licensing and regulations put in place on the use of dancing bears, and training the owners in the proper care and handling of them. Have inspectors checking on their health and conditions where they are kept should be the first step. Having free veterinary services, check ups, treatment and medicine like they are doing with the elephants around Jaipur would also be a must.

Why is it we try to change things that have been part of someone’s culture for hundreds or even thousands of years just so we can feel more like home when we are in their backyards?

When we see a pink dancing poodle (dog) we think that’s quite, when we see dolphins dancing on the water at Sea World we think that’s fantastic! When we see a bear dancing… Well.

I’m all in favor of stopping animal cruelty, but not stopping performing animals that are enjoying their interaction with humans. Yes they can be trained this way and with rewards and a lot of TLC you can have a very happy animal. I just feel things can be changed in different and better ways without loosing all of the history and culture.

Anyway that’s my 2 cents worth.

machadinha

Um, Cameleer, I'm with you here on the (proper) use of traditionally domesticated animals; however I am unaware that this applies to our relationship with bears, who need to be terrorized and hurt into doing what you want, as far as I know.

Mrs. M. (animal caretaker) is chiming in here, she's looked after former dancing (sloth and brown) bears in zoos and it was just tragic the way these animals are conditioned to display unnatural behavior and will take to "dancing" and general stereotyped behavior especially when under stress, something they may very likely never lose again. Not to mention physical afflictions like ripped-up noses, ([self]-inflicted?) blindness, growth deficits and so on. She's telling me now how one sloth bear would start dancing (stress and generally fearful behavior, of course; also taking to unnatural aggression) even when having its water changed. She's worked in one park where these animals are re-accustomed to natural circumstances as best as possible, and it takes them years if not forever to recover.

I'm sorry but I doubt if a bear can ever "enjoy" its interaction with humans or be "happy" about that. Cultural loss, yes, possibly; but not sure if regrettable in cases like this.

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Cameleer

Ever see the TV show Gentle Ben, http://timstvshowcase.com/gentleben.html
That was the one with the brown bear that was just like a family member and the little boy who spent a lot of time with it.

How about the TV show Grizzly Adams http://www.grizzlyadams.net/

I know a few people who work with bears and most people would call these bears anything but wild dangers animals (even though they really are) It takes the right type of dedicated person to work with these large animals.

I knew one person that would take his bear for rides into town in his car, that was sure a nice bear. It lived around his ranch house up in the mountains and could leave if it ever wanted to.

I own a zebra; she is very friendly and loves attention, she’s happy to have me get up on her back or pick up her legs because I brush her out while doing this and she loves it!
I take her out on camping trips along with my Bactrian camel and horses, none of the are tied up. They are free to go anywhere they want, but they are family and stick together. At nighttime before going to sleep I will usually tie up my stallion horse just to make sure they don’t wander off.
Yeah, zebras are also wild animals but I trust this zebra more than some horses!

Btw you don’t need to terrorized and hurt an animal into doing what you want. Yes in the old days this is how it was done. To train a bear to walk upright you would burn its front paws. To train a horse you would break it, a lot has changed in the last 50 years! And in working with animals India is about 100 years behind us here in the USA

machadinha

I wasn't talking about just any animal wild or domesticated (I've kept and used a number of the latter), I was talking about bears. Nor did I bring "wild and dangerous" into the equation, that's just not the issue and I wasn't scare-mongering (well, except on behalf of those bears, perhaps).

I also think comparing the cultural practice of keeping dancing bears to Grizzly Adams et al. (themselves easily criticized) is veering off into wild romanticism and generally besides the point.

But anyway, I guess we've had our couple of cents then. I understand your wish to study the vanishing culture of it all, like you expressed just recently, and good for you. I'm just a little surprised to now have you defend it as a practice as such, that's all. So I thought I'd air my misgivings.

Cameleer

20 years ago you could go to the circus here in the US and see bears dancing, balancing on big balls and riding bicycles around. They even had bears wearing tutus!
I fully agree what was happening to the bears in India was extremely bad and needed to be stopped! I don’t think anyone would dispute that fact!

I was just stating there are other ways to make these changes.

If you really want to see something bad, look at what they are doing to thousands of bears in China.
http://www.shamrockinchengdu.com/moonbears.html