India's last dancing bear - Raju is finally set free

http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org

Animal welfare history is made in India!

Raju the dancing bear is surrendered by his handler and has the rope finally removed from his muzzle.

At International Animal Rescue we have always been immensely proud to be part of the bear rescue project and we are committed to helping to feed and care for the rescued bears for the rest of their lives. For more information on our bear rescue project, please visit our website: www.internationalanimalrescue.org

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• dancing bears
• bears
• animal rescue
• india
• agra
• wildlife
• animal cruelty

[ncfo20]

Unfortunately this is not the last dancing bear, I have seen a photo of a dancing bear taken by the WPSA this year in 2010 and they estimate that there are still about 30 dancing bears remaining.

[AnimalRescueVideos]

@ncfo20 We have a wide network of informants in India and the dancing bears that we are now seeing are those who had been smuggled into Nepal by their owners and who have re-entered India. Working with partners Wildlife SOS, we are now seizing these bears and bringing them into our sanctuaries.

[askalice50]

I hope this practise won't rear it's ugly head in the future. Now that the bears are free, what are the people who kept them and made money off them going to do? I fear that they will capture and subjugate more bears in the future. Do we have assurances that this will not be the case?

[AnimalRescueVideos]

We support the rehabilitation of the Kalandar tribespeople who 'dance' the bears. They are taught new trades to help them support their families. Every Kalandar who surrenders his bear receives money to start up a business and in return he signs a legally binding contract promising never to acquire another bear on pain of arrest, imprisonment and seizure of all assets in order to repay the start-up loan. This ensures he will never need to revert to bear dancing as a way of earning a living.

[AnimalRescueVideos]

Thank you for your kind words and thanks to all our supporters whose generous donations made it all possible :)

[Koshkamitsu]

"Isn't it wonderful?" she asks. Yes, yes it is!

May Raju now have a happy life

Thank you International Animal Rescue for all your hard work - long may it continue!

[Mancholas]

Thank you :))))

[linbadham]

cying tears of joy, well done !!!!!!

[bfhbmw]

i am actually crying now coz its soooo sad

[askalice50]

@AnimalRescueVideos This is such a relief to know.  So, I can celebrate this victory for the all the poor bears and believe that this will never happen to them again! Thank you so much for posting this.

[suryamar]

jaya!

[reginehou]

That was wonderful.

Lets save the bears in Pakistan used for bear baiting.