The tradition of dancing bears is on the verge of disappearing in India. Repressive legislation combined with actions by One Voice and partner NGOs mean that poaching is being combated effectively and bears are being protected, including some of the world’s most threatened species. But today a new curse is striking the bear family in India: the traffic in bear bile.
For several centuries, dancing bears have guaranteed their keepers’ survival, through this activity traditional to the Muslim Kalandar tribe. The bears are captured young then trained using a range of barbaric methods and deprivations to totter and dance for tourists ever thirsty for new types of entertainment distraction. Bears have been protected in India since 1972 thanks to a law intended to "Eradicate all crime against wild fauna and flora".Trade in bears, along with their training and exhibition, has been banned and carries a 7-year prison sentence and a fine of 25 000 rupees. But even if these measures have slowed down the capture of bears in forests, this centuries-old tradition is still clinging on. In fact, popular belief has it that bears give their owners magical powers to cure certain afflictions, especially in young children. What’s more, the dancing bear is often the only source of income for this nomadic tribe that has been struck by chronic poverty.
The battle to eradicate this tradition that destroys lip bears, one of the species that is most threatened with extinction, is nevertheless being won, thanks to the combined actions of the Wildlife SOS NGO in partnership with One Voice, Free The Bears and IAR, along with government and local authorities. The programme to find alternative employment for bear keepers, which they can access by handing over their bears, and the introduction of an anti-poaching cell have enabled the number of dancing bears to be halved in ten years.
However, recent surveys have shown that the traffic in bears is continuing. They are now hunted for their bile, or their meat, and are sent to supply the markets in South East Asia, especially China, which is a major consumer. As an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine, China has made bile a “marketing ingredient” and the basis for products which are neither essential nor medical. Thousands of bears are disappearing from their region and from neighbouring countries such as India to meet demand that is increasing at an alarming rate.
By funding the anti-poaching cell’s logistics and the upkeep of cubs saved from traffickers, One Voice intends to fight all kinds of traffic more than ever and help to save this threatened species.
Eradicate all crimes against wild fauna and flora.
