COIMBATORE: With the conservation scenario in the country increasingly becoming tiger and elephant centric, the not-so-glamorous species such as bears are getting a raw deal. This when the country — one of the 12 mega biodiversity centres in the world — is home to four species of bears, namely Himalayan brown bear, Asiatic black bear, sloth bear and the sun bear.Of this, sloth bears are widely seen in the Western Ghats. “They are sighted frequently in the Mudumalai forests and also seen in the Western Ghats. But sloth bears are under threat due to continued poaching, retaliatory killings and habitat loss due to degradation and fragmentation,” says G Kannan, project assistant, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who is into bear conservation activities.Dr Arun A Sha, Senior Wildlife Veterinary Officer at NGO Wildlife SOS, said bears in captivity face a more serious threat as there are communities that eke out a living on dancing bears. “Bear conservation is a big challenge in India. Sloth bear cubs are poached after killing their mothers. Their teeth are knocked out and claws chopped off. A red-hot iron rod is then inserted without anesthesia into their sensitive snouts, through which a rope is passed. The wound is kept raw deliberately. It gets infected easily and often bleeds. When the rope is pulled, the bear could no longer bear the pain. Thus it stands up on its hind legs and is portrayed as dancing. This is a traditional mode of earning for Kalandar community,” Sha said.The veterinarian, who was in the city to participate in an animal welfare and conservation symposium, said voluntary organisations have now stepped in to educate the Kalandar community. The Wildlife SOS, which operates four sloth bear rescue centres in India, has offered them rehabilitation by providing other jobs. Kalandars are encouraged to voluntarily surrender their bears.“The younger generations of Kalandars are being enrolled in schools. Bears surrendered by Kalandars are micro-chipped and cared for in lifetime care centres,” Sha added.No Scope for Census, says expertA senior scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India said there are over 10,000 sloth bears in the country. “But there is no scope to estimate the number of bears due to lack of a proper method to conduct such a Census. The sloth bear is listed as vulnerable on the IUNC Red List of Threatened Animals, prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. But the focus in the country has always been on elephants and tigers, primarily because they attract international funding,” the scientist said on condition of anonymity.
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