tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57387541512151655482024-03-12T19:40:21.241-07:00Bear diariesReports from International Animal Rescue's bear rescue and rehabilitation centres.International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09863435234549957396noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-39955548716717801502013-11-13T03:35:00.000-08:002013-11-13T03:35:25.819-08:00Released bear thrives in his new home<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Back in the summer, a <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/news/2013/538/Wild+sloth+bear+set+free+in+India.html" target="_blank">wild bear</a> was reported to International Animal Rescue's partner in India as he had strayed near a village on his hunt for food. He was captured by Wildlife SOS and taken to the International Animal Rescue and Free the Bears funded sanctuary in Agra, where he was declared fit and well, and ready to be released somewhere safe, away from human habitation. First though, he was fitted with a radio collar, which was delivered in person by International Animal Rescue's chief executive, Alan Knight. This would allow the bear to be tracked by the team and provide valuable insights into the behaviour of wild bears, for the benefit of future rescued bears as well as our current residents.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Below is an update from the field team: </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The radio collared sloth bear was released back in Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. We call him SB01 for purpose of our record keeping and research. Here's an update on what SB01 has been up to for the past few months.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first few days after the release of the bear (SB01), the radio signals we received showed the bear moving in the north eastern direction of the dense forest in the Suhelwa Tiger Reserve.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tznk1PM7dtY/UoNjYhBeDbI/AAAAAAAAApc/X__Sw_Er-bY/s1600/Bear+Tracking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Bear tracking" border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tznk1PM7dtY/UoNjYhBeDbI/AAAAAAAAApc/X__Sw_Er-bY/s320/Bear+Tracking.jpg" title="Bear tracking" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He remained in the same area for almost a week before he finally moved ahead closer to the border of the Tiger Reserve that shared boundaries with out neighboring country of Nepal. This got us a bit worried, knowing that Nats and other community poachers illegally trade bears into Nepal and kill them for their body parts. Our intelligence had confirmed presence of a lot of wire snares in Nepal and we were concerned.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Soon our bear SB01 crossed into the Nepal border and we lost all radio contact with him. With no radio signals our tracking team worked hard for over ten days climbing all the high points in the region trying to get a radio signal but didn't get any signal. Finally our field research team started gearing up for a visit to Nepal and meet with forest officials there to take their assistance in locating the bear, when one morning in August, much to our team's delight, we started receiving signals from the radio collar again. Much to our relief, SB01 had crossed back into India and moved into West Suhelwa Range and away from the Indo-Nepal border.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It appear our bear SB01 is settling in well in the Suhelwa Tiger Reserve. The radio signals we are tracking indicate the bear is a densely forested area close to a large water reservoir, which we assume he selected due to the availability of food and the location being far away from human settlements.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The signals from bear SB01 also indicate deliberate avoidance of human settlements, which is a very positive sign.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VTPDtMk1ui0/UoNjjw1Ee-I/AAAAAAAAApo/UaMWF5Q_2Ps/s1600/Bear+Tracking1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Waiting for the signal" border="0" height="269" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VTPDtMk1ui0/UoNjjw1Ee-I/AAAAAAAAApo/UaMWF5Q_2Ps/s320/Bear+Tracking1.jpg" title="Waiting for the signal" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On one occasion, we received signal of the bear being 15 kms away from a village near Dagmara. We are prepared for receiving reports from villagers who may sight the bear, but SB01 did not go any closer to the village and nobody has reported any bear sightings so far. Fingers crossed!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In early September, there were radio signals received that placed him an area near Raniyapur dam. Our team is in the field tracking the bear and we shall keep you updated on his adventures and movements. Thank you for your support.</span>International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-939189244169715982013-10-29T07:31:00.001-07:002013-10-29T07:31:51.676-07:00Building and rebuilding enrichment in Bannerghatta!<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>Kat Fingland’s third and final blog post from Bannerghatta</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I helped to build an enrichment item! And then I watched the bears attempt to destroy it...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's a constant cycle of rebuilding enrichment items (like platforms, frames to hang balls and logs from, etc) which are then destroyed within literally a few days or even a few hours. The workers feed the bears in the morning and the afternoon, provide some enrichment food mid-way, and the rest of the day is pretty much spent putting things back together for the bears to ecstatically demolish again.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQUanTUAwnE/Um_GH_wCkcI/AAAAAAAAAos/z97vz5DNhSs/s1600/My+enrichment+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Two rescued bears have a squabble over whose turn it is to play on the climbing frame!" border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZQUanTUAwnE/Um_GH_wCkcI/AAAAAAAAAos/z97vz5DNhSs/s320/My+enrichment+crop.jpg" title="Two rescued bears have a squabble over whose turn it is to play on the climbing frame!" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They are wily creatures...with the platform that I helped build, two of them worked together to dig out around the foundations before one of them climbed on top to give the whole structure a really good shake with its 130kg mass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I rediscovered my gecko room mate who had managed to hide from me very well: he took up residence in my sink. Literally, inside the sink...down the little hole at the back of the bowl that helps to prevent overflows. I discovered this when I returned from the centre slightly earlier than usual one day and, on opening the bathroom door, managed to give both of us a fright as I surprised him and in response he flip-flopped all around the sink bowl before scampering back into his home.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mIO3OekdBaQ/Um_GH1J9e8I/AAAAAAAAAow/4nKsgHlp9JI/s1600/P1000788+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A rescued bear has a quick nap after a climbing session" border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mIO3OekdBaQ/Um_GH1J9e8I/AAAAAAAAAow/4nKsgHlp9JI/s320/P1000788+blog.jpg" title="A rescued bear has a quick nap after a climbing session" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The part of my study I enjoyed most was getting to sit and watch the bears...I've learnt so much about how they behave just through observing them and you can see their individual personalities. You get the chance to see some very funny behaviour too, like one bear who rugby tackled his dozing friend to instigate a mock fight or another playing in his water bowl on a particularly hot and sunny afternoon. It was great fun watching them with coconuts too, throwing them on the floor (they know to target concrete) in order to crack them open, before squabbling over the pieces. I've now received all of my data and am currently analysing it to see which food item was their favourite – from a first glance, coconut is the clear winner!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We had training in how to use GPS in order to track released animals - there's a female who will be released back into the wild soon, with a tracking collar to help provide more information about the lives of sloth bears in the wild, which will hopefully help reduce the number of human-bear conflicts that occur.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unfortunately a trip to the hospital was also taken...I thought I was going to make it through without getting ill, but it wasn't to be. I had gastroenteritis for a few days, so although I was doing the typical British stiff upper lip ("honestly I'm fine, I don't need a doctor" while curled up in a ball on the floor) Dr Arun, rightly, made me take a trip to the hospital. I was given a supply of antibiotics and supplements to help me try and shift it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My last few days were really good fun! I spent some time with one of the guys, Deepak, and his friends, going bowling and go karting, and then out to drinks at a roof top bar, watching the fireworks all over Bangalore city as processions took their Ganesha idols down to the lakes to submerge them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was also pretty surprised that the enrichment I made was still standing when I left – that’s British engineering for you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the last day, I also went on a safari around the national park (seeing elephants, lions, tigers, white tigers and, of course, the bears) and went to the zoo and the butterfly house. I said goodbye to the guys and thanked them for their hospitality - it was actually quite sad saying goodbye as this has certainly been a truly unforgettable experience.</span><br />
<br />International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-79821016760490167232013-10-28T09:07:00.000-07:002013-10-28T09:07:11.211-07:00International Animal Rescue: A New Life for Shakir<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Reproduced below is an account by our Indian partners Wildlife SOS of the effectiveness of the Kalandar rehabilitation programme. The Kalandars are traditionally a nomadic people who have relied for centuries on dancing bears for a living. With support from <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/index.php" target="_blank">International Animal Rescue</a> and <a href="http://www.freethebears.org.au/" target="_blank">Free the Bears Australia</a>, the programme played a vital part in the Kalandars’ willingness to surrender their bears and embark on a new way of life.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In our attempt to solve the problem of 'Dancing Bears' in India, we worked with an approach that would not only free the bears from their cruel owners but also would provide a different life for the Kalandars. We needed to stop sloth bears being taken from the wild and used for entertainment. We understood that in order to do that we needed a holistic programme. Something that addressed the poverty of the Kalandar tribe and ensured the conservation of sloth bears in the wild. The Kalandar families were living from hand to mouth and the bears were their only source of income. In many cases Wildlife SOS provided jobs to the Kalandar people at the rescue centres for the bears, in others we tried to provide alternative livelihoods.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uduzgCacSfY/Um6KOp486II/AAAAAAAAAoc/M9DCGpHkUgs/s1600/22Feb07+(5).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="A Kalendar surrenders his dancing bear to International Animal Rescue and Wildlife SOS" border="0" height="288" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uduzgCacSfY/Um6KOp486II/AAAAAAAAAoc/M9DCGpHkUgs/s320/22Feb07+(5).JPG" title="A Kalendar surrenders his dancing bear to International Animal Rescue and Wildlife SOS" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One such example is of Shakir Kalandar, who now has a changed life. Shakhir is a 22 year old that lives in a village called Korai in Uttar Pradesh. His grandparents used to dance bears until they surrendered their bears to Wildlife SOS.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In 2011, Shakir met with an accident that stopped the flow of blood in his left hand. His nerves were damaged from the shoulder joint which made it impossible for him to do any kind of work with it. "It was such a traumatic situation for me, I had a family to support and I was not able to get a job." Shakir tried to work as a labourer at a construction site after surrendering his bear. "After the accident, everywhere I went for a job they rejected me because of my hand. I went through a major crisis for more than two years that included starvation and poverty," he added.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shakir approached Wildlife SOS in the hope of being freed from his wretched situation. After being reassured by Geeta Seshamani, co-founder of Wildlife SOS, he was optimistic about a new life. Shakir expressed, "Geeta ma'am assured me that Wildlife SOS would help and support me. In the next few days a team from the NGO came to my house and sponsored a small grocery shop for me worth Rs 7500. I am grateful to the organisation for understanding my pain and taking immediate action to help me."<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N3xG1z2FzWk/Um6Jqz-HBBI/AAAAAAAAAoU/uYXBhdkxuno/s1600/shakir+kalendar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Former bear owner Shakir now earns his living running a grocery shop, instead of relying on his dancing bear." border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N3xG1z2FzWk/Um6Jqz-HBBI/AAAAAAAAAoU/uYXBhdkxuno/s320/shakir+kalendar.jpg" title="Former bear owner Shakir now earns his living running a grocery shop, instead of relying on his dancing bear." width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now Shakir runs a small grocery shop in his village where he caters to the daily needs of his community and he is able to earn an approximate income of Rs. 3000 per month. This income is used to run his house and take care of his health necessities. The economic empowerment of the Kalandar man will provide him with a dignified life and help him feed his family.</span>International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-27375990359817970802013-10-18T05:43:00.001-07:002013-10-29T07:32:25.364-07:00International Animal Rescue: Life among the bears and other animals<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kat's second blog post from Bannerghatta</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Working
in the national park is ideal for seeing the animals that are indigenous to
India. In the week or so I've been here, in addition to the elephant that we
spotted on my first day, I've now also seen a family of wild boar (piglets
included), lots of different birds, deer, hares, a macaque monkey and several
mongooses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Speaking
of elephants, the Wildlife SOS team was sent to rescue one on Sunday:
apparently it had wandered near to a village and the locals all went to look at
it, but it became frightened and charged, tragically killing a small boy. Wildlife SOS was
called in to drive the elephant away from the village - hopefully the elephant
was sufficiently frightened by the experience that it won't go back.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yxJyGBWpVfE/UmEsQHqg8fI/AAAAAAAAAnY/xnZ5Tsc54rQ/s1600/P1010073+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="Watching elephants from a safe place" border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yxJyGBWpVfE/UmEsQHqg8fI/AAAAAAAAAnY/xnZ5Tsc54rQ/s320/P1010073+crop.jpg" title="Watching elephants from a safe place" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's
still a lot to get used to here: the culture is just so different to the UK and
we spend a lot of time discussing the differences between our countries.
Particularly the food - it is all very tasty, but I think I normally have curry
about once every six months at home!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">During
the week, the Wildlife SOS team was called to another rescue - this time a
leopard caught in a snare. As they were about to dart it in order to cut it
free and give it a general health check, it jumped and managed to free itself.
As long as his paw isn't too badly injured he should be fine, which is a
relief. They even brought the snare back to the centre, complete with tufts of
leopard fur...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">During
the week, we had an escapee bear. The cheeky thing had managed to dig a huge
hole, find a gap in the massive stone wall and squeeze himself out. He knew
he'd done something bad though: as the workers approached him, he sheepishly
ran back in with a guilty look. This is currently being resolved to ensure he
doesn't escape again! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QIPIHU1I0I8/UmErByu6hvI/AAAAAAAAAnM/-a2gK9O5yqY/s1600/My+enrichment+2+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="Squabbling broke out between the rescued bears over enrichment" border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QIPIHU1I0I8/UmErByu6hvI/AAAAAAAAAnM/-a2gK9O5yqY/s320/My+enrichment+2+crop.jpg" title="Squabbling broke out between the rescued bears over enrichment" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For
my study, I have been asked to find out which food enrichment item the bears
prefer: so we are giving the bears six food items (watermelon, coconut,
ground nuts, Pedigree biscuits, dates and monin [syrup] - there are others that
they provide, based on the season and what is available for purchasing, but
these six are most regularly used and readily available) in their
"socialising enclosure" to forage for. I am noting down the order in
which they find them and how long they spend with each item.It's
really interesting to watch them pop open a watermelon so easily and slurp out
the insides within seconds - you can see with those claws and that strength why
an enraged bear is so dangerous!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's
one bear in particular, called Madhan, who loves coconut - for the last few days,
all he has eaten is the coconut. As this research is being repeated every day,
the bears are starting to learn that the six items are available but they only
have a certain time limit, so they will ignore less preferred items that they
have found in order to track down their favoured ones (returning to the skipped
ones only once all their preferred ones have been found and eaten.) Madhan, in
particular, will gloss over all the other items in order to find the coconut
and he will then spend up to half an hour scraping every last piece out with
his claws.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It
seems to be going quite well so far. More news and results next week once I
have finished...</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-23511687866270065172013-10-09T07:49:00.000-07:002013-10-09T08:11:51.325-07:00Bear diaries blog by Kathryn Fingland from the UKSo, I have arrived...my first ever time in Asia, let alone India. I already get the feeling it's going to be unlike anything I have ever experienced before.<br />
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The people at Wildlife SOS are very welcoming and friendly to me, giving me beer and always making sure I have enough food and sleep to recover from my jet lag. And we all share the same interest in wildlife and conservation (although when I’m talking about the foxes and badgers in my garden, they're talking about trying to avoid stepping on cobras in theirs!)<br />
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I've now had my first couple of days at the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre...I've seen a wild elephant, come nose-to-nose with a Sumatran tiger and, of course, met the bears!<br />
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The centre is based quite far into the national park, so sightings of wild leopards, elephants and sloth bears have been reported by those who work there. Luckily, we managed to spot an elephant in the trees at the side of the road. It was only brief (maybe 5 seconds or so) but I still felt very lucky to see one, and so close, on my first day!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Z4mwz9Q6PU/UlVxY04JsSI/AAAAAAAAAmI/oHOYOaPYZcI/s1600/P1000811+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Z4mwz9Q6PU/UlVxY04JsSI/AAAAAAAAAmI/oHOYOaPYZcI/s1600/P1000811+blog.jpg" /></a>The centre also houses two tigers: a Royal Bengal tiger which was caught in a snare and sadly had to have his paw amputated and a Sumatran tiger that was rescued from the UK where someone had been keeping him as a pet. I was kneeling down at the barrier to the Sumatran tiger's enclosure to look at him sunbathing, when he decided to come have a look at me too. He came right up to where I was kneeling and pushed his nose up to the wire to give me a good sniff, so he was less than a foot away and separated only by the fence! Tigers really are beautiful animals and it was so amazing to be that close.<br />
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I've also been introduced to the daily routine of looking after the bears, and spent some time observing them throughout the day. Every morning they are fed a mix of porridge, honey and milk, and the "slurping" noise they make eating this is deafening! It's rather like the noise you get when you're drinking a milkshake through a straw and you're down to the dregs... The staff have to get up at 3am to start making this breakfast, which shows commitment! The bears also make a humming sound, sounding exactly like a swarm of bees, when they are resting and contented, which is quite a relaxing background noise.<br />
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I'm starting my research tomorrow (doing the trial run before starting it properly on Monday for two weeks) as I have now finalised the plans with Dr Arun, so I will write another blog soon explaining what I am (trying) to do and how it is progressing.<br />
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That’s all for now!International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-70515239267203518692013-06-13T02:21:00.001-07:002013-06-13T02:22:38.643-07:00Treating sloth bear teeth in Agra, India<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b>Rachel Perry BSc, BVM&S, MANZCVS, MRCVS</b></i><b style="text-decoration: underline;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What did you do at work today? I treated sloth bear teeth in
India! It’s not every day that your hear that! I was invited by my veterinary
dentist colleague, Lisa Milella, to join her and a “human” dentist, Paul Cassar,
on their next trip to the <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/projects/14/Agra+bear+rescue+facility.html" target="_blank">Agra Bear Rescue Sanctuary</a> in India. The sanctuary is
run by <a href="http://www.wildlifesos.org/" target="_blank">Wildlife SOS</a>, and funded by <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/index.php" target="_blank">International Animal Rescue</a> and <a href="http://www.freethebears.org.au/" target="_blank">Free theBears</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Over the last ten years Lisa and Paul have visited to
inspect and treat the bears’ teeth within the sanctuary, and provide veterinary
dental education for the Wildlife SOS vets.
Of course I jumped at the chance to be involved in such an exciting
project!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What is a sloth bear?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The sloth bear (<i>Melursus ursinus</i>) is an insectivorous species of bear found
within the Indian subcontinent. They were originally classified as sloths due
to the length of their claws, which can grow to 7cm! They are stocky, with a
long shaggy black mane and a white ‘V’ shaped marking on the chest. They weigh between
60-150kg, and have a life expectancy of 20-25 years. They are omnivorous, and
love fruits and honey, but they consume a lot of termites and ants and are very
well adapted to these! Their sense of smell is tremendous, enabling them to
locate termite nests. They expose the nests with their long claws, and then
blow out the dirt and suck out the termites with their lips like a vacuum
cleaner nozzle. Sloth bears are classified as ‘vulnerable’ and protected under
CITES regulations. They are threatened
by habitat loss, and sometime hunted due to destruction of crops of aggressive
behaviour. They are also poached from the wild and sold into a number of cruel
industries: bear bile farming, bear dancing, bear paw soup and bear baiting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What’s a dancing
bear?</b><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZFy3gvNV9Q/UbmOqn1Bq3I/AAAAAAAAAfY/DlBbQ7fWPME/s1600/dancingbear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZFy3gvNV9Q/UbmOqn1Bq3I/AAAAAAAAAfY/DlBbQ7fWPME/s320/dancingbear.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sloth bears have
also traditionally been used as dancing bears, the practice of which dates back
to the Mughal era. The Kalandar people have been historically associated with
dancing bears. Cubs would be bought or poached, and then “trained” to become
dancing bears to entertain people and earn money for their Kalendar master. To
make them safer and easier to handle, young cubs would have their teeth broken
with a hammer, and a rope or ring placed through the nose and muzzle with a hot
poker. This inevitably led to numerous painful problems with the mouth and
teeth. Broken teeth would be excruciatingly painful, and would quickly become
severely infected, with root abscesses. The bear’s natural defence mechanism
against the pain of the rope through his nose is to rear up on its hind legs
with its forearms outstretched, which was sold as ‘dancing’. The rope (attached
by a ring pierced through the soft muzzle of the bear) would often cut into the
eyes causing pain and blindness. Bears also became blind due to malnutrition.
This barbaric practice was outlawed in 1972 but there were still around 800
bears on the roads between Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in the late twentieth century.
International Animal Rescue has worked closely with Wildlife SOS in producing a
phenomenal sanctuary in Agra, housing nearly 300 bears. The charities have not
only <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/projects/9/Bear+rescue+and+rehabilitation.html" target="_blank">rescued bears</a> and given them the veterinary care they require, but helped
support the Kalandar people by educating and providing employment to ensure
that their livelihoods were safeguarded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lisa and Paul have
made several visits to the sanctuaries over the last ten years, donating valuable
dental equipment and instruments, as well as educating the Wildlife SOS vets in
how to detect and treat dental problems in the bears. The keepers have also
been trained to examine their bears’ mouths and detect any tell-tale signs of
infection or pain. Many bears have received vital dental treatment already, and
this trip’s mission was to re-check some bears that had already received
treatment, and treat new bears. It was a real honour and privilege to be able
to go out with Lisa and Paul to help International Animal Rescue and Wildlife
SOS provide the dental treatment the bears need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Anesthetising the bears
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A blow dart was
initially used to anesthetise the bears, which were then transferred into
the hospital via a stretcher. Once in the operating theatre, they had a
tube placed down the airway to allow delivery of oxygen and anaesthetic gases,
which is very similar to dogs and cats.We don’t normally have to blow-dart dogs
and cats though!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UQfYRSRciNU/UbmOHLbTEpI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/zQ3bBhnffiw/s1600/stretcher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UQfYRSRciNU/UbmOHLbTEpI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/zQ3bBhnffiw/s1600/stretcher.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Transferring the sedated bear</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I then placed a
tube down the anaesthetised bear’s airway. The bear had its vital signs
monitored throughout the anaesthetic, and was placed on intravenous fluids.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KDExu1YpCk0/UbmNwXLC3XI/AAAAAAAAAe4/Rrbn-9jMteE/s1600/teethpipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KDExu1YpCk0/UbmNwXLC3XI/AAAAAAAAAe4/Rrbn-9jMteE/s1600/teethpipe.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Once anaesthetised, the bear’s mouth and teeth were thoroughly examined, and dental radiographs taken. Again, very similar to what
I do when I examine dog and cat patients! The bears suffered from
different types of painful dental problems. Some of the bears’ teeth had been
damaged by their original owners for the purposes of dancing; the canines would
be broken off with hammers. Not only is this painful, but also allows infection
to enter the root and cause an abscess. Sometimes the teeth were pushed further
into the jaw, creating deformed teeth trapped within the bone. Teeth would also
wear down naturally due to the ‘sand-blasting’ effect of sucking up termites.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8qKnYOyLVA4/UbmN1AKN7eI/AAAAAAAAAfA/nsUzE352bNY/s1600/tooth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8qKnYOyLVA4/UbmN1AKN7eI/AAAAAAAAAfA/nsUzE352bNY/s1600/tooth.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An extracted canine tooth and abscess</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some larger teeth could be saved by performing a root canal
procedure. This is similar to the procedure performed in humans, dogs and cats.
The inside of the tooth is filed and disinfected before a sealer is placed
inside the tooth, and then a filling placed in the crown of the tooth. Silver
(amalgam) fillings were used in the bear’s teeth because this is a strong filling,
and unlikely to wear down. Other teeth could not be saved and required
extraction. This was not an easy procedure due to the size of bear teeth! A
surgical extraction technique was performed involving raising a flap of gum and
removing some of the bone overlying the tooth using special drills. Large,
bear-sized equipment was also needed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The bears all made
very smooth recoveries from the anaesthetics, and their ages ranged from 1 ½ -
30 years old! The bears that have received dental treatment will all
undoubtedly be feeling much better. The sanctuary allows them to live
peaceful, safe lives in comfort. They have huge amounts of space to perform
their natural behaviours, have climbing frames to exercise, ponds to cool off in
and tree trunks hiding honey! They also receive care and love from their
keepers, and veterinary attention from the Wildlife SOS team. I was so
impressed with not the only the facilities, but the care provided to the bears.
The whole team (vets, keepers, security guards, the cook) is committed to
saving and helping their beloved Indian sloth bears. It is evident in the way
they talk, and carry out their daily work. Providing such immaculate care for
the bears is expensive. I have made a donation which will help the bears for a
short while, but to continue providing such exceptional care, the sanctuary
requires regular donations. Please consider making a one-off or regular
<a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/donate.php" target="_blank">donation</a> to help this incredible project. Every little really will make a big
difference.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kfZNJEfZqdc/UbmOBjzYyMI/AAAAAAAAAfI/F96hRtu8Ikk/s1600/bear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kfZNJEfZqdc/UbmOBjzYyMI/AAAAAAAAAfI/F96hRtu8Ikk/s320/bear.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/IAR_updates" target="_blank">IAR </a>and <a href="https://twitter.com/WildlifeSOS" target="_blank">Wildlife SOS</a> on Twitter!</span></div>
International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-41533612832661060192013-05-21T09:08:00.000-07:002013-05-21T09:16:06.320-07:00An update on the bears rescued in February<br />
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is an update on the four bears rescued from the Indo-Nepal border in February of this year. For the original news piece on the rescue, please click <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/news/2013/514/Coalition+that+stamped+out+barbaric+practice+of+dancing+bears+in+India+rescues+four+more+bears+as+they+are+smuggled+over+the+border+from+Nepal..html" target="_blank">here</a> to read it on our website.</span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Michael Oreo</span></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BC5P2g8XD8s/UZuZ6_ilkEI/AAAAAAAAAdU/YehOsKEe3m0/s1600/Michael+Oreo4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BC5P2g8XD8s/UZuZ6_ilkEI/AAAAAAAAAdU/YehOsKEe3m0/s1600/Michael+Oreo4.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Oreo loves the fresh fruit basket<br />
delivered to his den every morning!</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Michael
Oreo (formerly known as Oreo, but renamed Michael Oreo in honour of one of our
biggest and best supporters) is three years old, and was rescued from the
Nepalese border by Wildlife SOS in February this year. He weighed 86kg, and has
put on a further 8kg since his arrival at International Animal Rescue’s Agra Bear
Sanctuary. His keeper says the bear is a big fan of porridge and fruit, and
particularly enjoys the sugarcane enrichment! He also enjoys playing with the
ball in his den.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He was
recently introduced to Goldie, one of the other bears seized in the raid. They
get on really well, and enjoy playing together. Michael Oreo loves playing with
water, and splashes it out of his drinking tub at every opportunity! He is
surprisingly bold around his keeper, and does not seem worried by strangers.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This
lovely bear is undergoing treatment for a mild respiratory tract infection as
diagnosed from his initial chest radiograph and blood analysis results. Sadly
his dental exam revealed that all his canine and incisor teeth are missing. This
will be closely monitored by his keeper to ensure that he can eat properly and
that any infection (as a result of the crude way his teeth were knocked out by
poachers) is caught and treated swiftly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Truffles</span></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n0P1eVoV-l4/UZuZ-wKa2AI/AAAAAAAAAdc/RvQdRuQv1_8/s1600/Truffles8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n0P1eVoV-l4/UZuZ-wKa2AI/AAAAAAAAAdc/RvQdRuQv1_8/s1600/Truffles8.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Truffles waits by the door of his den hoping<br />
for a second breakfast!</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Truffles
is a mischievous and affectionate bear, aged around fifteen months old. He is
still in quarantine after his dramatic rescue from the Nepalese border in
February, along with three others.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Touchingly,
Truffles was so ecstatic when the coarse rope - which had been forced through
his soft muzzle by the poachers - was cut away, that he rubbed his nose along
the ground before dashing outside into his run, running round and round as if
to celebrate his freedom.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">His keeper
describes him as a happy-go-lucky bear, who greets him with “bear hugs” and
nudges when he arrives each morning with breakfast. He is a bear who enjoys his
food, and has grown very fond of the keeper who supplies it!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fortunately,
Truffles’ dental examination did not reveal any serious issues, and the
visiting dental team from the UK (blog post to follow!) gave them a thorough
clean. However, it was clear that there had been an attempt to break his teeth
when he was very young, as his teeth have grown through with the tips broken
off. This does not seem to have caused him any problems, though.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Truffles’
love of food has resulted in a weight gain of 5kg, putting him at 67kg. He
loves porridge so much he puts his whole face into his bowl rather comically to
make sure he doesn’t miss a single precious oat! He likes to play with fruit before
munching it, and like, Michael Oreo, enjoys splashing in his water tub,
treating it like a miniature swimming pool!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Unlike
Michael Oreo, Truffles is quite wary of strangers, and prefers them to keep
their distance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kandi</span></span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kandi is doing well in quarantine</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kandi
is believed to be around two years old, and was rescued alongside Michael Oreo,
Truffles and Goldie in February. He is quite small for his age and has lots of
growing to do, weighing only around 60kg. He is a friendly little bear, and
enjoys lots of attention, making him very popular with the keepers.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">His appetite
is quite small, and he will often not finish his evening meal of porridge, but
tucks into the fruit with gusto. He loves to splash around with his water, and
when the keepers hose his den down, he tries to wrestle the hosepipe away from
them to spray the water on himself!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kandi
has a painful infected injury to one of his claws, but it is responding well to
treatment. It hasn’t dampened Kandi’s spirits, and he seems to be enjoying his temporary
stay in quarantine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Goldie<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3p0-06HUIPE/UZuaIvsRKYI/AAAAAAAAAds/diwftM07BO4/s1600/Goldie3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3p0-06HUIPE/UZuaIvsRKYI/AAAAAAAAAds/diwftM07BO4/s1600/Goldie3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goldie is blind, and suffered terribly at the hands<br />
of his captors</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Goldie
has the saddest story of the four bears rescued in February. Aged just five
years old, he is already blind in both eyes. He weighed 98kg on arrival, which
for a male bear of his age is a little underweight. He displayed signs of tremendous
hunger, yet he was not eating properly. Consequently, one of the on-site vets
sedated him and did a full medical examination of him.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks
to this diligence, it was discovered </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that poor Goldie was suffering from a serious
infection in a rotten upper canine tooth. His Kalendar “master” has been
particularly brutal and careless towards Goldie, and he has probably suffered from
unbelievable pain throughout his life. Fortunately, the dental team from the UK
were in Agra in April, and removed this tooth. Goldie is now enjoying his diet
of porridge and fruits, and has put on weight since the successful operation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It is
not yet known if his sight will be able to be restored or if the damage done to
his eyes (probably by the rope through his nose rubbing on his optic nerve) is
permanent. What we do know is that if it <b>is</b>
possible to restore his sight, then our fantastic vet team will do it!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The rehabilitation and lifelong care of these four sloth bears will be expensive. If you can, <b>please </b><a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/donate.php" target="_blank">visit our website</a> to make a donation. If you are unable to make a financial contribution, please share this post on Facebook, Twitter, via email and any other way you can think of to help raise awareness of the work we are doing to protect India's bears!</span></div>
International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-84342171200294827222013-04-24T02:44:00.001-07:002013-04-24T02:44:42.247-07:00Balu Ay Gaya!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; line-height: 16.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By Vinay
Datla and Nikki Sharp, Communications Team at Wildlife SOS</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">International
Animal Rescue’s partner in India,
Wildlife SOS, recently undertook a dramatic rescue of an adult sloth bear, from
the village of Shikohabad, about 75km outside of Agra, where our <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/projects/14/Agra+bear+rescue+facility.html" target="_blank">bear sanctuary</a>
is located. A call about a wild bear was received by Dr. Ilyaraja at nine am,
and he promptly deployed a rescue team. After a two hour journey, the team reached
the village, where an adult sloth bear was discovered in the middle of a dry
storm drain. It was very dark inside the drain, which was estimated to be
around 40 feet in length. Without a long a torch in the rescue kit, the
villagers used a mirror and directed the natural light from the sun into the
storm drain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With a
transport cage and a net to hand, Dr. Ilyaraja decided to cover the dry storm
drain on one end with the cage and the other end with the net. Dr. Ilyaraja
managed to dart the bear with sedation through the netting as planned. After
waiting about 15 minutes for the drug to take effect, a member of the rescue
team, Santyender, went into the storm drain with a long stick and tested the
bear’s response. The bear was still conscious, and started moving backwards
towards the cage, as planned. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F9gC87xtN14/UXeoSBEF5dI/AAAAAAAAAak/L5eolTjm91A/s1600/Bear+in+storm+drain+(30)+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F9gC87xtN14/UXeoSBEF5dI/AAAAAAAAAak/L5eolTjm91A/s320/Bear+in+storm+drain+(30)+(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sedated bear in the storm drain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The team at this point thought the rescue was a
success, as the bear moved into the cage, but suddenly the villagers shouted,
“balu aa gaya”(“bear has come”). The bear, spooked, ran towards the other end
right towards Santyender, who narrowly escaped a direct encounter with the
frightened sloth bear. The bear reached the net and broke free. The villagers
who were responsible for holding the net were understandably scared by the
force of the angry sloth bear, dropped the net and ran away. The bear was
left tangled in the net. Two members of the rescue team, Raj Kumar and Veeru,
bravely held on to the net to contain the bear while Dr. Ilyaraja attempted to
dart the bear again. Unfortunately, he missed, which can happen when one tries
to dart a bear in open spaces! The angry and aggressive bear managed to escape recapture.
At this point Dr Ilyaraja found himself face to face with the bear... He had a
dog-catcher in his hand and attempted to catch the bear. The bear almost
attacked him, but fortunately ran away instead.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The bear evaded the villagers and
escaped into nearby wheat and potato fields about a kilometre away, resting in
the shade under a tree before getting spooked by villagers again. The
bear moved on, now about two and a half kilometres from the place where it
was initially darted. Eventually the bear was successfully darted and
immobilized.</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-35fG6fGDcs4/UXeongxJkfI/AAAAAAAAAas/D8OQXGXAB84/s1600/Boys+carriying+the+bear+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-35fG6fGDcs4/UXeongxJkfI/AAAAAAAAAas/D8OQXGXAB84/s320/Boys+carriying+the+bear+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Santyender covered the bear eyes with
a cloth and the team carried the bear for almost a kilometre. With an
additional dose of tranquiliser, the bear was loaded into a cage and the cage
was then placed into the vehicle. The team left the village at 3:30pm and
arrived back at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility at 5:30pm. At the facility, the
animal was observed for injuries and general condition. The bear has now been
fully examined and deemed releasable and should be released soon when an
appropriate release location has been determined.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">An exciting rescue for the team, and
certainly not a straightforward one – well done Wildlife SOS! </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-28895325206069389892013-01-24T08:55:00.000-08:002013-01-24T08:55:39.756-08:00Agra bear sanctuary in India enables visitors to take a walk on the wild side!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSpVvmLgjUg/UQFfUWmmJ-I/AAAAAAAAAXQ/5mFUIGL3K6A/s1600/Education+Signage+on+walkway1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSpVvmLgjUg/UQFfUWmmJ-I/AAAAAAAAAXQ/5mFUIGL3K6A/s200/Education+Signage+on+walkway1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signage at the entrance to the walkway</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
India’s first Wildlife Conservation Education Walkway has been opened at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility funded by International Animal Rescue. The walkway, built by IAR’s partners Wildlife SOS, is designed to raise awareness of the ecological importance of endangered sloth bears and other native Indian wildlife which is increasingly threatened by rampant habitat destruction and deforestation, leading to increased human-animal conflict.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nzWIyr4r1m0/UQFhe99AXrI/AAAAAAAAAXw/QB3R8XJqKVs/s1600/WSOS+elevated+walkway+viewing+platform.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nzWIyr4r1m0/UQFhe99AXrI/AAAAAAAAAXw/QB3R8XJqKVs/s200/WSOS+elevated+walkway+viewing+platform.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The elevated platform</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The walkway was inaugurated by Mr Mahendra Aridaman Singh, Transport Minister of the Uttar Pradesh Government on 15 January 2013. It has been built using environmentally friendly bamboo, stone and solar energy to power interactive signage. The aim is to educate school children in particular and encourage future generations to behave responsibly and in an environmentally friendly manner towards India’s forests and wildlife.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JXbYQoy8SBo/UQFgBFFOfBI/AAAAAAAAAXg/nJ6bmoP4nH4/s1600/WSOS+Walkway+bridge1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JXbYQoy8SBo/UQFgBFFOfBI/AAAAAAAAAXg/nJ6bmoP4nH4/s200/WSOS+Walkway+bridge1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The raised walkway</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Conservation Education Walkway is a 1500ft long nature education and interpretation facility highlighting bear poaching and other threats and conservation challenges facing sloth bears in India. The route is rich with educational signage, leading to a platform elevated on 13ft high stone pillars level with the tree line, so that the bears can be observed without disturbance.<br />
<br />
Billboards along the walkway also highlight the eight species of bears found in the world and their geographical distribution, as well as describing and depicting the other endangered wildlife present in Uttar Pradesh forests.<br />
<br />
Deputy Conservator of Forests, Chambal – Sujoy Bannerjee, IFS said “By establishing the Agra Bear Rescue Facility, Wildlife SOS and its partners brought an end to the illegal practice of bear dancing for which sloth bear cubs were poached in Uttar Pradesh and other states. The UP Forest Department subsequently asked Wildlife SOS to establish an education facility to assist with conservation education and public awareness-raising and the walkway will be an extremely valuable tool to sensitise our people to bear conservation in India.”<br />
<br />
Wildlife SOS Chairperson, Kartick Satyanarayan said “Our efforts to protect and conserve sloth bears in the wild combines tackling the poaching of bears for gall bladder used for Chinese Traditional Medicine and also poaching of bear cubs for use as dancing bears as well as for bear baiting in Pakistan. Our efforts have been successful thanks to the support and cooperation of the UP Forest Department and the police.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CWhkjmgC0FM/UQFmZoCqbkI/AAAAAAAAAYA/sHjhNzl8y14/s1600/view+of+the+bears+from+elevated+platform.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CWhkjmgC0FM/UQFmZoCqbkI/AAAAAAAAAYA/sHjhNzl8y14/s200/view+of+the+bears+from+elevated+platform.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the bears from the walkway</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
“The creation of this educational walkway is just the beginning. We still require a great deal of infrastructure and development to make it a richer and more interactive experience which leads people on beyond the issue of bears to larger issues of forest and ecosystem conservation. We have ambitious plans and will be collaborating with various international organisations on the design of interactive educational material for school children.” <br />
<br />
IAR Chief Executive Alan Knight added: “Public awareness-raising and education are vital for the protection of bears and other endangered wildlife in India. The walkway is an excellent way of introducing an educational element into the sanctuary: it literally leads visitors along a path of discovery in the midst of some of the wonderful wildlife they are learning about.”<br />
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International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-59785696022067528942012-07-02T06:19:00.000-07:002012-07-02T06:19:06.079-07:00A Day in the Life of a Bear Keeper<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white;">When Sreekanta came to the Agra Bear Rescue Facility to repair the solar power fence, little did he know everything was going to change from that day on! He worked on the enclosures in the morning and during lunch he would watch keepers like Mubarak and the others feeding the bears and going about their chores. After seeing how everything was done and watching an old bear walk slowly to the keeper and rub against him, Sree, as he is lovingly called by the Wildlife SOS staff at the centre, suddenly knew that was exactly what he wanted to do with his life. So he signed up with Wildlife SOS to become a full time Paravet and a bear caretaker at the Agra Bear Sanctuary. Nine years have passed since then and he has more stories than most zoo keepers about the cubs he has hand raised, all of whom are large grown up bears now. </span></div>
<br />
I found out more about Sree’s life with the bears:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AwIyD431Zug/T_GeCejc2VI/AAAAAAAAAHE/vPYwNSUDqm0/s1600/Sreekantaiah+with++Bear+Cub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AwIyD431Zug/T_GeCejc2VI/AAAAAAAAAHE/vPYwNSUDqm0/s320/Sreekantaiah+with++Bear+Cub.jpg" width="213" /></a><b>Q.1 – What are your daily duties? </b><br />
A- My day starts at the Wildlife SOS centre at 7am in the morning. I start by washing out the bear dens and then, once they are clean, I bring large quantities of porridge from the kitchen for the bears. I then wash all the bear plates and pour the porridge out, putting in the boiled eggs, dates and a handful of chopped fruits. I keep a close watch on the amount of food and medicines that are supposed to be given to each bear because often even the smallest change in their food habits can alert us to something wrong with a bear. After feeding it is cleaning again and then I cut up branches, prepare food balls, honey logs and other such enrichments to be scattered and hidden in the enclosures. That’s my favourite part of the day. After that it is fruit feeding, cleaning and then cooking the porridge for the evening feed. I also take care of para veterinary work and I enjoy the challenge of helping treat these beautiful animals!<br />
<br />
<b>Q.2- Every keeper has a few favourite animals, who are yours?</b><br />
A- I really care about all the bears but I must confess that I do have a soft spot for the bear cubs I fostered with my own hands. I have hand reared many cubs and Layla, Giri, Guna, Nakul, Kuber, Chamundi, Anandi and Deva remain my favourite bears.<br />
<br />
<b>Q.3- How did you start taking care of the bear cubs? </b><br />
A- These were really small bear cubs rescued by Wildlife SOS from poachers who had stolen the cubs from the mothers. I was on the night shift the day the cubs arrived at the centre and I spent the entire night working with the vets Dr Ilayaraja and Dr Arun at the centre keeping an eye on the cubs. My curiosity made me work with the cubs but then I became very fond of them and I enjoyed looking after them, staying up all night and feeding them every three to four hours. Sometime the cubs get scared and need calming down. When I had to leave the next evening the bear cubs refused to let go of me and started screaming as if they did not want me to leave. This helped me make up my mind and after that I asked Wildlife SOS to give me the bear cub care duty in addition to my other duties. My work started initially with only two bear cubs but I genuinely loved caring for the little ones. So I went on to care for more and more cubs. It makes me feel like a responsible father.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DArjeP7bCC0/T_GeEnPmUhI/AAAAAAAAAHM/bDlCWhTMIUs/s1600/Sreekantaiah+with++Bear+Cub+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DArjeP7bCC0/T_GeEnPmUhI/AAAAAAAAAHM/bDlCWhTMIUs/s320/Sreekantaiah+with++Bear+Cub+%25281%2529.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<b>Q.4- How many cubs have you hand reared?</b><br />
A- I never had the time to count as the cubs kept me busy all the time, but I think I would have helped rear at least 20 of them. Their ages always varied so the amount of work was always different. There was never a boring moment.<br />
<br />
<b>Q-5- Are there any memorable incidents that come to your mind? </b><br />
A – One night Layla bear cub suddenly got very sick at about 2am and I sensed she was ill. I stayed up all night for several days to nurse her. I asked the vet to look at her and then this encouraged me to learn para-veterinary skills from the vets at the centre. When you watch these cubs at close quarters, you realise they have likes and dislikes, have moods that differ and each one of them has a different habit. Like Kuber, the elder cub at BBRC had a habit of sucking on Nakul’s ear and we never understood why until we realised that he would resort to this behaviour when he felt stressed.<br />
<br />
<b>Q.6- Have you gone on any rescue operations? </b><br />
A- Oh yes! I have gone on rescue operations and have helped transport bear cubs over thousands of kilometres by road and by air! It was never easy as the cubs have to be kept calm as any noise could stress them out.<br />
<br />
<b>Q-7- Apart from bears, have you taken care of any other animals? </b><br />
A – I have taken care of several animals other than bears – pangolin (ant eater), spotted deer fawn, hog deer fawn, baby monkey and several injured birds. But the bears are closest to my heart – they can be feisty or fearful, inquisitive or shy, calm or just a little bit crazy – but always fun to be around and never ever dull!<br />
<br />
<i>Written by Aishu Sudarshan</i><br />International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India27.1766701 78.008074527.1201671 77.929110500000007 27.2331731 78.0870385tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-42611527024657881742012-04-25T08:47:00.000-07:002012-05-14T08:20:12.511-07:00Enriching the lives of our rescued bears<i>Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan provides an insight into how we enrich the lives of the bears at our sanctuaries...</i><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dL39mLiS8pU/T5gbiGTOgtI/AAAAAAAAADg/q-vkd6r1q-k/s1600/platform,+frame.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dL39mLiS8pU/T5gbiGTOgtI/AAAAAAAAADg/q-vkd6r1q-k/s320/platform,+frame.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Most of us have a fond childhood memory of a playground where the seesaw was stiff and rusty and you had to be a daredevil on the jungle gym to join the cool gang. The reason we were taken to parks as children was not just for our mothers to get some quiet time. It was also to help improve us mentally and physically. The park made us stronger not just by swinging higher than everyone else, but by teaching us new routes, new tricks, making us plan our play time and by pushing us into climbing the highest part of the climbing frame.<br />
<br />
Wild bears get their enrichment from climbing trees, hiding from predators, digging holes, foraging for food and various other natural activities. But things were slightly tougher when it came to the rescued dancing bears. Not only were they domesticated by their Kalandar owners, but they had no clue how to get into a termite mound or even try and dig a trench.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H80btotwKFY/T5gZSqLNPMI/AAAAAAAAAC4/xCKCatyVde8/s1600/Bears+on+climbing+frame.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H80btotwKFY/T5gZSqLNPMI/AAAAAAAAAC4/xCKCatyVde8/s320/Bears+on+climbing+frame.JPG" width="240" /></a>After rescuing more than 600 bears we knew we had a big tough job on our hands. We had to keep their minds stimulated and help them forget their brutal past. We had to keep in mind their mental and physical wellbeing and decided to take baby steps at helping them become wild bears again. <br />
<br />
Our first step was to reintroduce them to climbing to improve their mobility and reduce the abnormal repetitive behaviour seen in most dancing bears. The Climbing Frame started off as a one story platform with wooden rungs for footholds. It was made out of thin logs and rope. We never realized the strength of a fully grown bear until we saw one break the entire frame in a fit of anger! Over the years we have succeeded in making stronger frames which 3- 5 bears can climb on at the same time. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f8urivrNgh0/T5gZvoK5bsI/AAAAAAAAADA/fW-KlLU-58Q/s1600/Bear+on+hammock.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f8urivrNgh0/T5gZvoK5bsI/AAAAAAAAADA/fW-KlLU-58Q/s320/Bear+on+hammock.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
From frames we gradually progressed to Hammocks. We started making them out of large jute sacks that were attached on 4 corners to strong logs of wood. Apart from a few instances where a bear has pulled out the entire hammock, we have been pretty successful. Today, our hammocks vary from high ones that are made of fire hose, to ones that can fit two bears and are attached to a climbing frame. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LLxHOboc8Ko/T5gagVYpP8I/AAAAAAAAADI/A_AcycQVI3s/s1600/Bear+with+fruit+barrel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LLxHOboc8Ko/T5gagVYpP8I/AAAAAAAAADI/A_AcycQVI3s/s320/Bear+with+fruit+barrel.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
In the last few years various enrichments have been given the vote of approval by the bears: others have been ditched after failing to make the grade. But after many trials and even more errors we stumbled upon 2 methods that were and still are winners: the fruit barrel and the termite mound. <br />
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The fruit barrel is a simple contraption that involves 3 pieces of wood and a big drum. All you do is make holes at regular intervals all around the drum and on the two ends. Push a stick through the end holes and hey presto! The barrels are filled with fruits and only if rolled will the fruits drop. The most hilarious visual is to watch the cubs roll the barrel and try to push their snout inside. It took them a while to get the hang of how the barrel rolled but once they caught on there was no rolling back!!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HjXB4cbGCVc/T5ga2U28zdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/VDApJ6lf550/s1600/Termite+mound.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HjXB4cbGCVc/T5ga2U28zdI/AAAAAAAAADQ/VDApJ6lf550/s320/Termite+mound.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
The termite mounds were an experiment that turned out perfectly. The idea began as a play toy for the cubs where a slightly out of shape bucket was used to introduce them to sucking liquids and mashed fruits. The bucket took a beating after the cubs started to grow and we needed sturdier things to survive their wrath. That was when a large cemented mound was made with pipes at various levels. This has been a huge success with the cubs at all our centres and was also introduced to the blind and partially sighted bears. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uo5A3ps9zg8/T5gbJ_cGrGI/AAAAAAAAADY/UwI1h9Vcdmo/s1600/Aussie+Dog+Balls.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Uo5A3ps9zg8/T5gbJ_cGrGI/AAAAAAAAADY/UwI1h9Vcdmo/s320/Aussie+Dog+Balls.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Our latest and by far the most exciting enrichment was introduced to us by the generous and kind Free the Bears Fund volunteers from Australia. They brought along with them a wonderful innovation called the Aussie Dog Ball that was created to help stabled equines with mental and physical enrichment. Today it is a craze with pets and wild animals that are bred in captivity. These balls are round and made of a hard material that is light and can take a few thrashings. It has an opening on one side through which fruits and various treats are put in. it is then rolled into the enclosure and the enriching part is to see how many bears use skill instead of strength to get the food out. We were amazed to see the cubs dig out the food more quickly than the others because of their small paws!<br />
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Each enrichment that is added to the enclosure always guarantees two things, 1. The sight of a bear’s hidden strength being used in attempting to destroy the enrichment, 2. The chance to watch even the laziest bear try his hand at working out the enrichment before he goes back to his favourite shady spot. Now that truly is an enriching experience!<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aENVE4oMKk" target="_blank">Watch a video of the bears testing out some of the enrichments </a><br />
<br />International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com1India20.593684 78.962885.536602 58.748036 35.650766 99.177724tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-63613337056666631162012-04-18T07:57:00.000-07:002012-04-18T07:57:30.451-07:00A tale of two bears<i>Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan provides an update on the <a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/news/2011/452/Two+sloth+bears+moved+by+IAR+and+WSOS+for+emergency+medical+care+in+India.html" target="_blank">two bears rescued from Chitradurga zoo</a>...</i><br />
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It has been several months since the brothers from Chitradurga set foot in the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre and every day since that November afternoon things have been looking up. The minute the brothers entered the centre, they were given large dens with a water trough and fruits to make them comfortable after the journey. They were christened Angelo and David. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-olYRBP6t-Dk/T47SMjW_VCI/AAAAAAAAACU/l1vYeQ9-Tno/s1600/Angelo+and+David.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-olYRBP6t-Dk/T47SMjW_VCI/AAAAAAAAACU/l1vYeQ9-Tno/s320/Angelo+and+David.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angelo and David explore outside</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Angelo was the elder brother who unfortunately tested positive for TB. David on the other hand tested negative but was extremely underweight. When the team at the centre saw the brothers they let out a gasp at how full grown bears could weigh so little. <br />
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Angelo was immediately put on medication because the TB was in the initial stages and so we took more precautions. David was put on a highly nutritious diet that included various growth supplements and vitamins. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fakqusuzfEc/T47SN8KygjI/AAAAAAAAACc/aIM_7TwenKs/s1600/Angelo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fakqusuzfEc/T47SN8KygjI/AAAAAAAAACc/aIM_7TwenKs/s320/Angelo.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Angelo</td></tr>
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In the past 5 months we have seen them improve both mentally and physically. Angelo’s coat has started looking fuller because of the diet and medication. He developed an appetite and didn’t complain when we added the medicines to his porridge. He kept to himself and used to become extremely tense when an unfamiliar person came to see him. <br />
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Today, Angelo is more or less the same bear but he has become much healthier and finishes all his meals. His coat has improved, his medication is working and he has fallen head over heels in love with watermelons. There are a few things that we hope get better with time, for one his fear of humans. If Angelo senses a new person near his den, he tries to hide in a corner and won’t eat or move until that person leaves. It is his miserable past that has led to these circumstances but we are hoping it’s just bright and beautiful from here on. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t_6wS4M0ado/T47SPr-LV9I/AAAAAAAAACk/oJjcyweIe2Y/s1600/David.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t_6wS4M0ado/T47SPr-LV9I/AAAAAAAAACk/oJjcyweIe2Y/s320/David.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David</td></tr>
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David is called the little one because he would eat very little and was extremely small for his age. David was just skin and bones when he entered our centre. He refused to eat anything on the first day and didn’t eat any fruits till 2 weeks later. <br />
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Now, he is still a much slower eater than his brother but his appetite has improved and so has his coat - and he loves pineapples! The most noticeable improvement is his personality. David came to us as a worn out bear that wouldn’t even move in his den. Today, he digs pits, destroys the enrichment and shreds coconuts in milliseconds. He even snarls back at the other bears! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nr_iaNEp4sU/T47TQkgMM6I/AAAAAAAAACs/M5pgY-kUXLo/s1600/David+with+fruit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nr_iaNEp4sU/T47TQkgMM6I/AAAAAAAAACs/M5pgY-kUXLo/s320/David+with+fruit.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David enjoys coconuts</td></tr>
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A few weeks back the keepers created a little area for Angelo to make him comfortable with the outside and help him start using the enrichment. It took him a while to come out of his den and take a few steps. He was extremely wary of his surroundings. But when he did gather the confidence there was no stopping him. He sniffed the entire place, tried his hand at the enrichment and even ran towards the keeper.<br />
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David on the other hand took to the outside like a pro when he was introduced to it a few months back and went straight to the fruit barrel looking for pineapples. We are extremely happy the brothers have come on so well and now feel sufficiently at home in the rescue centre to reveal their very different personalities.<br />
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<a href="http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/news/2011/452/Two+sloth+bears+moved+by+IAR+and+WSOS+for+emergency+medical+care+in+India.html" target="_blank">Read the full story of the bears' rescue on our website.</a>International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15459483526456926116noreply@blogger.com0Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore, Karnataka, India12.7683087 77.567673512.7373367 77.528191499999991 12.7992807 77.6071555tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-51417158917767771792012-03-14T04:43:00.000-07:002012-03-14T04:43:22.605-07:00Meals in bed and plenty of playing and digging: a day in the life of Nakul the bear cub<i>Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan introduces a resident of our bear rescue facility in Bannerghatta</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GRdqj5YGMmo/T2CCHAszt6I/AAAAAAAAAnY/IlHTtA-GmEQ/s1600/Nakul+rescued+bear+cub.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GRdqj5YGMmo/T2CCHAszt6I/AAAAAAAAAnY/IlHTtA-GmEQ/s320/Nakul+rescued+bear+cub.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nakul soon after he first came to our centre</td></tr>
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Fifteen month old Nakul came to the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre as a three month old cub who was scared and intimidated by the number of people around him. Nakul and his brother Kuber were rescued from poachers in Karnataka who had killed their mother and stolen the two cubs. After they were rescued by the law enforcement agencies and the forest department they were taken to BBRC and that was when it all changed. For the first three months of his life Nakul didn’t have a home, he was with humans all the time, was hidden in a gunny bag when the situation called for it and was shown off to various interested buyers.<br />
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On his first day at the centre, Nakul was terrified: he perhaps feared us as prospective buyers and would scream if anyone touched him. The minute he entered the enclosure, he ran to the water trough and finished off almost every drop. His journey and his fear of the crowd had made him thirsty! We were sure Nakul was hungry too so the boys cut some watermelons, papayas and pomegranates and offered it to him. It took less than five minutes before the plate was licked clean and he sniffed around searching for any pieces that he had missed!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z8nyOXqBtt8/T2CCIgUUOrI/AAAAAAAAAng/znoNE6DMht8/s1600/Rescued+bear+cub+India.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z8nyOXqBtt8/T2CCIgUUOrI/AAAAAAAAAng/znoNE6DMht8/s320/Rescued+bear+cub+India.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nakul loves his hammock!</td></tr>
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Thankfully Nakul’s muzzle wasn’t pierced and his canines were intact. He was just bruised in various places and had small wounds here and there - apart from that he was a healthy cub. He started growing stronger and more active as the days passed and was equally mischievous: he would climb everything in sight and chew on everything possible. We still remember the first time he sat on a hammock. We were sure he was in love. He would expect everything to be brought to the hammock: the boys had to move the water closer so he could just bend and drink it whenever he felt like it, and even his fruits had to be given there! His infatuation hasn’t died down: even a year later the hammock is Nakul’s favourite object.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-npKG23pkQdE/T2CCGAJLQ6I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/CkLl5wBeG5s/s1600/Dancing+bear+rescue+cub+India.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-npKG23pkQdE/T2CCGAJLQ6I/AAAAAAAAAnQ/CkLl5wBeG5s/s320/Dancing+bear+rescue+cub+India.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nakul now enjoys life at BBRC</td></tr>
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Today, Nakul weighs 45 kgs and is dewormed and vaccinated. He is a determined boy who can pull a whole watermelon down from the enrichment after trying for a while. He enjoys papayas, apples and loves porridge.<br />
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It has been a long journey for Nakul and his brother and we are glad they are here now and no longer in the hands of heartless people who would have made them dance and traipse along the streets for hours on end. We also hope Nakul continues to enjoy his hammock, relish the fruits and porridge and pass his time happily digging and wrestling with his brother.International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09863435234549957396noreply@blogger.com0Bannerghatta National Park, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India12.7683087 77.567673512.7373367 77.528191499999991 12.7992807 77.6071555tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-59857490971140516632012-03-08T08:32:00.000-08:002012-03-08T08:32:46.248-08:00Introducing Ambika<i>Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan introduces another of the residents at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility. </i><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QxfiNwxLz8Q/T1jejyinFvI/AAAAAAAAAnI/N4TCz6uEYDs/s1600/Dancing+bear+rescue+Agra.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QxfiNwxLz8Q/T1jejyinFvI/AAAAAAAAAnI/N4TCz6uEYDs/s320/Dancing+bear+rescue+Agra.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Everyone at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility still remembers when Ambika arrived. It was winter and things seemed even gloomier when we saw how badly neglected she was. She had not a single tooth in her mouth. She was undernourished, smelly and miserable. We believe she understood things were going to change though, because she was quiet and allowed the keepers and vets to approach her with great docility. Her first diagnosis was a poor appetite and a septic muzzle; an enlarged liver and congested lungs. It took her a while even to understand that fruits are to be eaten, because for six years all she had been fed on were plain rotis (Indian bread).<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SZxGn4E6GMo/T1jeik-CLaI/AAAAAAAAAnA/ZYNnsqnB0Xo/s1600/Bear+rescue+sanctuary.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SZxGn4E6GMo/T1jeik-CLaI/AAAAAAAAAnA/ZYNnsqnB0Xo/s320/Bear+rescue+sanctuary.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Today Ambika is a healthy 121 kg bear who doesn’t just eat her fruits but relishes them. Her biggest discovery since the day she arrived is eggs! She loves them and will always be the first one to eat the boiled eggs in her porridge. She is now healthy, active and has a luxuriant coat. When she isn’t dreaming about eggs she enjoys playing with Abha and Archana at mock fighting, wrestling, and climbing the platforms.<br />
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Her keeper says Ambika’s favourite pastime is to empty all the water from the trough. She loves playing with it and will be seen splashing around and slurping water most of the time. We are always glad when a bear is doing what she loves, whether it is snuffling out eggs in her porridge, play wrestling with her friends - or making waves in the water trough!International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09863435234549957396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-34515570558482775202012-02-29T07:04:00.000-08:002012-02-29T08:27:28.313-08:00Ding dong bell there’s a Blue Bull in the well!<i>Aishu explains that sometimes it's not just bears that need rescuing... </i><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yp52wQxcTm8/T049BkT4kAI/AAAAAAAAAk4/mbEtqfLkveo/s1600/P1500538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yp52wQxcTm8/T049BkT4kAI/AAAAAAAAAk4/mbEtqfLkveo/s320/P1500538.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
As well as caring for the hundreds of rescued dancing bears at our centres in Agra, Bannerghatta and Bhopal, our partners at Wildlife SOS are on call 24/7 to respond to all kinds of wildlife emergencies.<br />
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On 18 Feb they rescued a Blue Bull, otherwise known as a Nilgai, from a 15 foot deep disused well close by a wheat field. It was near the village of Runkuta in the state of Uttar Pradesh, about 50 kms from our Agra centre.<br />
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The team went to check on the state of the bull on the night it was discovered and left some fodder for it. Then they returned at sunrise with the rescue equipment. They examined the animal, carried out the rescue operation, checked once more that it was free from injury and then set it free – job done! All in a day’s work for the rescue team, but the Blue Bull had a lucky escape thanks to them. Let’s hope he looks where he’s going in future!International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09863435234549957396noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5738754151215165548.post-29656416560365904982012-02-27T08:09:00.000-08:002012-02-29T08:28:11.705-08:00Introducing Valmiki<br />
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<i><span lang="EN-US">Wildlife correspondent Aishu
Sudarshan, tells us about Valmiki, who is living happily
at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility.</span></i><span lang="EN-US"> </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QTNnLryhJBY/T0upFIWAK0I/AAAAAAAAAjg/3llGHq0UoIY/s1600/Valkimi+Rescued+Bear+Rescue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QTNnLryhJBY/T0upFIWAK0I/AAAAAAAAAjg/3llGHq0UoIY/s320/Valkimi+Rescued+Bear+Rescue.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When Valmiki arrived as a 3 year old male
bear after being rescued from a Kalandar in Nepal, he was dehydrated, pitifully
thin and with a sparse, dull coat. On the way over to the Agra Bear Rescue Facility,
he managed to remove the rope that went through his muzzle –a symbolic gesture
if ever there was one! He was friendly and cooperative, seemingly fully
understanding that we were here only to help him and make him get better. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It has been a year and a half since Valmiki
arrived and we are just so glad he is here. His appetite has shown drastic
improvement because he went from being a frail 60 kilo bear to the 102 kg
weight he is today. Titli bear is his best friend and you will watch them both
fighting for hammock space and digging the ground intently. </span><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-suXFGmFhyGU/T0upGV7pI8I/AAAAAAAAAjo/SmXylQdluKk/s1600/Valmiki+%287%29.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-suXFGmFhyGU/T0upGV7pI8I/AAAAAAAAAjo/SmXylQdluKk/s320/Valmiki+%287%29.JPG" width="240" /></a><span lang="EN-US">Valmiki loves climbing and keeps juggling
between the climbing frames and the trees. If there is one thing his keeper,
Gopal, tells us it is that he eats extremely fast and is always given a second
helping. If he isn’t given one you will hear continuous calling, grunting and
nudging to get Gopal’s attention. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We are delighted that now Valmiki’s muzzle
has healed, his coat is fluffy and thick and he is safely vaccinated against
diseases. It warms our hearts to see him
running around, climbing trees, stealing watermelons and just being a beautiful
boisterous bear!</span></div>International Animal Rescuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09863435234549957396noreply@blogger.com0Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India27.1766701 78.008074527.1201671 77.929110500000007 27.2331731 78.0870385