Sloth Bear Rescue & Rehabilitation

For over 400 years, a nomadic tribe known as the Kalandars began ‘dancing’ sloth bears and over centuries, the ‘dancing’ bear trade transitioned to become entertainment for villagers and tourists who paid to watch the bears jump in agony. The practice of dancing bears was made illegal in India when the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 came into effect. However, innocent cubs are still captured from the wild and the illegal trade of bears continues to prevail in and around India. Wildlife SOS has and continues to work towards protecting wild sloth bears that are a constant target of human exploitation.

After extensively investigating this illegal practice & presenting a report on this issue to the government of India, Wildlife SOS began the rescue of these dancing bears. They had to start with upliftment of the Kalandar community, who depended on these bears to earn a living. To enable them to surrender their sloth bears and not exploit wildlife as a source of income and livelihood, Wildlife SOS continues to provide vocational training, education & financial rehabilitation support to the families. Additionally, we works towards rescue and rehabilitation of Sloth bears in India and anti-poaching efforts to end trafficking of bear cubs.

The results of this project were phenomenal as over time, the Kalandars started to voluntarily surrender their bears to Wildlife SOS and choose a more sustainable future. In a historic moment in 2009, Wildlife SOS was successful in bringing an end to the ‘dancing bear’ practise by taking the last dancing bears off the streets of India Till date we have successfully rescued & rehabilitated over 628 dancing bears. In fact, almost 40% of the Wildlife SOS staff comprise of members of this community. Today, these bears are given excellent medical care, nutritious diet and freedom to roam in large natural enclosures thus, living lives of dignity in environments as close to their natural habitat as possible.