Building and rebuilding enrichment in Bannerghatta!

Kat Fingland’s third and final blog post from Bannerghatta

So I helped to build an enrichment item! And then I watched the bears attempt to destroy it...

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.

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.


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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

I was also pretty surprised that the enrichment I made was still standing when I left – that’s British engineering for you!

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.

Treating sloth bear teeth in Agra, India

Rachel Perry BSc, BVM&S, MANZCVS, MRCVS

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 Agra Bear Rescue Sanctuary in India. The sanctuary is run by Wildlife SOS, and funded by International Animal Rescue and Free theBears.

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!

What is a sloth bear?

The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) 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. 

What’s a dancing bear?

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 rescued bears 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.

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.

Anesthetising the bears

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!

Transferring the sedated bear

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.

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.

An extracted canine tooth and abscess

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!

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 donation to help this incredible project. Every little really will make a big difference.

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Agra bear sanctuary in India enables visitors to take a walk on the wild side!

Signage at the entrance to the walkway

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.

The elevated platform

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.

The raised walkway

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.

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.

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.”

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.

View of the bears from the walkway

“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.”

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.”

Enriching the lives of our rescued bears

Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan provides an insight into how we enrich the lives of the bears at our sanctuaries...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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!

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!

Watch a video of the bears testing out some of the enrichments

Meals in bed and plenty of playing and digging: a day in the life of Nakul the bear cub

Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan introduces a resident of our bear rescue facility in Bannerghatta

Nakul soon after he first came to our centre

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.

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!

Nakul loves his hammock!

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.

Nakul now enjoys life at BBRC

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.

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.

Introducing Ambika

Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan introduces another of the residents at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility. 

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).

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.

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!

Introducing Valmiki

Wildlife correspondent Aishu Sudarshan, tells us about Valmiki, who is living happily at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility. 

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. 

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. 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.  

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!