My goodness there are angels in our world, and I found them at the Agra Bear Sanctuary in India! Geeta & Kartick run Wildlife SOS and pray that in times to come animals will have more hands and hearts willing to care for them and more voices to speak and fight for their survival rights. This extraordinary couple rescue and care for exploited and injured animals - be it bears, elephants, leopards or snakes; prevent poaching, help rehabilitate communities, spread awareness and protect wildlife for generations to come.

Geeta has been involved in animal welfare and wildlife conservation for over thirty years. She pioneered work in animal welfare in Delhi, and set up the First-ever Stray-Animal Birth Control centre in the city. Her organization Friendicoes SECA (Society for Eradication of Cruelty to Animals) was started 30 years ago in 1979, and continues to provide the best veterinary facilities for any stray animal that is brought to its shelter.

In 1995, she co-founded Wildlife S.O.S. with Kartick and undertook an investigation to ensure that crimes against the Indian Sloth Bear ended. She has been a guiding force for the Agra Bear Rehabilitation Centre. Her passion and commitment to animals has been recognized by the government, who have appointed her to several of their committees; she is part of the Government of India Committee for Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experimentation on Animals, the Animal Welfare Board of India, the Central Zoo Authority amongst others. 1995 they also embarked on the first intensive investigation into the status of the Indian Sloth Bear. Their 2 year research revealed the ugly truth about the ubiquitous and continuing trade of bears. Through results of this study they made several recommendations to the government on how to tackle this multi-dimensional issue. They established Bear Rehabilitation Centres in India where not just the dancing bears, but their owners too are given a new life and livelihood. In an attempt to curb the trade and poaching of wildlife, they have set up an Information Intelligence Network across nine Indian states where they have confiscated many bear cubs through their under-cover seizures. They work closely with State Forest Departments, the Wildlife Preservation Wing, Police, Customs, Special Task Force and Special Operations Groups.

Kartick’s tryst with rescuing animals began when he was still in school, and would assist the Karnataka Forest Department on Night Patrols in searching for any illegal activities within the national parks. He has since worked extensively in the national parks of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Assam in various capacities and in 1992 took on a three-year project with the New York Zoological Society on the Tiger Ecological Status Survey.

There is a connection here to my first story on Mary’s Beautiful Bears so I would like to share with you my knowledge of the Agra Bear Sanctuary which houses rescued Sloth Bears that Geeta & Kartick are responsible for. The Sloth Bear is my favorite bear, and that is saying something when he is in excellent company with the adorable Giant Panda and magnificent Polar Bear :o) My heart goes to this bear who has had an horrific past and still many bears are suffering profound torture today and must be rescued immediately. I hope you too feel compelled to give and be a part of their rescue.

The Sloth Bear is not to be confused with the slow, upside down South American Sloth! No this bear is absolutely gorgeous with his thick long black hair and charming cream colored 'V' that adorns the chest. The elongated nose & muzzle are specially designed to "hoover up" termites and ants. They are famous for raiding honey combs high on the trees with dates, berries, vegetables and flowers as a diet. In captivity Sloth Bears consume fruits such as papaya, mango, water melon and pomegranate so my design was inspired from what I saw. The sickle shaped claws have an unmistakable resemblance to the claws of the “Sloth” which gave the “Sloth Bear” its name. Like other bears they are able to walk on the entire foot like humans with a life span of 30 years.

2 to 3 cubs are born and the care is done by the mother who carries the cubs on her back. The most important threat is the poaching of live bear cubs for Bear Dancing in India. The mother bear is often killed while trying to protect her cubs. The adults are poached for their body parts such as gall bladder, bile, claws and genital organs which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Kalandars, a nomadic gipsy tribe date themselves and the origin of bear dancing back to the 13th century and the pre-Mughal era. Kalandars gained prominence as the royal entertainers in the courts of the Mughal emperor and once the emperors and kingdoms became history, they started to perform 'Bear dancing' for the general public. 

Domestic and international visitors to India would often see bear dancers on the highway between Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Kalandars purchase the cubs from tribal poachers and train them to dance and respond to commands using the crude tools of pain and fear. At the tender age of just six months, a crude iron needle is heated and driven through their muzzle without anesthesia or any other antibiotic, and a rough rope is pulled through the sensitive swollen muzzle. 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 Kalandar. 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 of disease and a large number of dancing bears are blind due to malnutrition but were still being used by the Kalandars for dancing. For the bears with a life on the streets being danced from village to village with the rope in the muzzle and the punishing stick must be brought to an end as soon as possible.

Today, about 800 dancing bears are performing on the streets across the country and must be rescued like the first 500 fortunate bears now living at beautiful bear sanctuaries. It is six years since Rani, the first dancing bear was rescued by Wildlife SOS to transition from a cruel and miserable life, to a life of safety and care at one of their five bear rescue facilities.

The good news is that Geeta & Kartick have rescued many bear cubs. Their dedicated anti-poaching team tracks poachers and monitors poaching routes, trade points and underground markets for bear cubs throughout the year. A special cub weaning area in the Bear Sanctuary is dedicated to foster baby bears rescued from poachers since these cubs require a lot of careful attention during the early months.

Each rescued bear undergoes a 90 day quarantine period at the Sanctuary, given a complete health check for diseases, wounds and parasites and vaccinated against rabies. After the quarantine period, the bears have access to large socialization enclosures where the behavior and personality of each bear is closely monitored by the vets and staff. The enclosures ensures bears interacting with each other and based on each bear's personality, they are then moved to large free ranging areas in well matched groups.

Wildlife SOS have three full time Wildlife Veterinary Doctors where I was fortunate to meet Dr. Ilayaraja and a dedicated team of Bear Keepers to care for the rescued bears. The Bear Hospital is equipped with a laboratory in addition to essential equipment like X-ray, Ultrasound, Dental suite, Operation Theater and other equipment needed to meet the requirement of Bear Care.  Wildlife SOS has initiated a unique approach to end this cruel tradition but they need our help too. They realized the need for a long term sustainable solution to the problem was to provide the Kalandar with an alternative livelihood option.

This would ensure that the Kalandar, dependent on dancing bears would never again poach bears from the wild or trade in wildlife goods. Upon peaceful surrender of the bear they provide training opportunities for Kalandar families to develop new skills live driving, carpet weaving, welding, tailoring and sari embroidery through their training schools. Kalandar children are educated to ensure their brighter future and women receive vocational guidance to help them contribute to their family income and ensuring that the families become self reliant and independent in the long run. They also undertake community development initiatives and organize health camps in the Kalandar villages. In this way, they hope to make the bear rescue efforts sustainable and holistic and envision breaking the cycle of Dancing Bears permanently.

The Agra Bear Rescue Facility runs with the long term commitment of international partners IAR-UK, FTB-Australia and One Voice-France. They are extremely grateful to their individual donors and supporters, with whose support they are able to help the bears and the Kalandars. Li_bear_ate a Dancing Bear today. http://www.wildlifesos.org/index.htm

Ro London - Wildlife Crusader - www.wildlifecrusader.com Animal lover and wildlife designer Ro London, with her Sacred Fish Collections and Wildlife Crusader designer labels attract attention with vibrant patterns of unique wildlife designs printed on fine silks & natural fibres.  Ro London creates spectacular fashions from her own fabrics using bold bright colors and inspirational artwork to draw attention to the world's endangered species. Each wildlife design emphasizes how we risk losing our precious animals living in their natural surroundings; every species chosen for a textile design has its own theme song! Ro's enchanting and spiritual CDs are rich with exotic melodies that demonstrates her deep concern for the preservation of our rare and threatened animals. Ro, who  is a dedicated artist who spends her whole working life exploring exotic habitats around the world in pursuit of the intricate details that make up her extraordinary designs. Ro lives in Tallai Hills Estate, Queensland Australia. You can reach Ro This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it