Once a source of eternal bliss, very few were aware of what the ‘dancing bear’ was going through. Bear babies were forcibly taken away from their mothers, with a rope inserted through their nose, painful to pull, and forced to obey the owner. It took 20 years for Karthik Satyanarayan and his team at Wildlife SOS to completely eliminate the practice.Sensing their plight, Karthik founded Wildlife SOS in 1995 with Geeta Seshamani, who had a long association with animal shelter Friendiko’s. Today, it runs several projects to support bear conservation in India, including the world’s largest rehabilitation center for sloth bears in Agra. Karthik says, “Dancing bears were traded in the Qalandar community. The work was largely due to compulsion, ignorance about laws and lack of opportunities. He had no other means of living.”
Therefore, the approach of Wildlife SOS was to involve the community to end this practice. “When we started cracking down on bear poaching, we also worked with the community to improve their social status,” says Karthik. We helped them with women empowerment, skill training, alternative employment and more than 7,600 also sent children to school.Today, about 40 percent of Wildlife SOS employees are community members.
The success of their effort can be gauged from the fact that none of the children of Kalandar born after 2009 saw a bear in their house. About 4,000 Qalandar families are no longer dependent on this illegal trade for a living. The ‘Kalandar Rehabilitation Project’ has ended a 400-year-old tradition.
While rehabilitating both man and animal, Wildlife SOS has also taken the responsibility of providing a home to the bears rescued by them. The rescued six hundred and twenty eight dancing bears are now looked after at their centers in Agra, Bangalore, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
Inspired by his success with bears, Karthik expanded his conservation efforts to include other animals. The organization now works with elephants, leopards and reptiles, protecting them from poaching and providing them with critical medical care. “Each one of our 12 animal rescue centers in India gives me joy,” says Karthik. “I just watch an elephant play in the river or receive treatment at an elephant hospital, a leopard peeks out of its den, or a bear climbs a tree at the rescue center, and I am at peace knowing that I I have brought the dignity and freedom of these animals.”
Taking care of thousands of rescued animals or protecting those living in the wild is by no means an easy task. But Kartik firmly believes that animals and people can live together in harmony and balance. “In educating people on wildlife, including teaching them avoidance behaviors and how to deal with human-animal conflict, I believe we are building a bridge to coexistence and respect for nature,” they say.
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