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From: Kinship Circle - kinshipcircle [at] accessus.net
Date: Nov 30, 2007 7:48 PM
Subject: ACT/ The Saddest Dance - India’s Battered Bears

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11/30/07: The Saddest Dance - India’s Battered Sloth Bears
KINSHIP CIRCLE ACTION CAMPAIGN
www.KinshipCircle.org

PHOTO: www.iar.org.uk/india/dancing-bears.shtml

It has been illegal to own or ‘dance’ a bear in India since 1972. However, illegal trade continues with more than 100 cubs illegally captured from the wild each year and sold.

SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

World Society for the Protection of Animals
wspa [at] wspausa.org

VIDEO / India’s Dancing Bears
[click here]

India: Dancing Bears
www.iar.org.uk/india/dancing-bears.shtml

Directory Of Indian Government Websites
goidirectory.nic.in/

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CONTACT INFO / EMAIL BLOCK
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COMPLETE CONTACT INFORMATION:

Honorable President Of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil
email: presidentofindia [at] rb.nic.in
website: presidentofindia.nic.in/

Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India
Vice-President’s House * 6, Maulana Azad Road * New Delhi - 110 011 (INDIA)
ph: 011-23016422, 23016344
email: vpindia [at] nic.in
website: 164.100.24.167/Chairman-Rajyasabha/writetochairman.htm

Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
South Block, Raisina Hill * New Delhi, India -110 011
ph: 91-11-23012312; fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857
web email: pmindia.nic.in/write.htm

Sh. Sevugan Regupathy, Minister of State for Environment & Forests
TS. No. 3108, East Second Street * Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu (INDIA)
ph: (04322) 227799
email: r.sevugan [at] nic.in

Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Paryavaran Bhavan
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road * New Delhi - 110 003 (INDIA)
ph: +91-11-2436 1896, 24360605, 24360570, 24360519
email: envisect [at] nic.in
website: envfor.nic.in/

Smt. Ambika Soni, Minister of Tourism & Culture
RNo 301, Transport Bhawan
1, Parliament Street * New Delhi - 110 001 (INDIA)
ph: 91-11-23717969; 91-11-23718310; 91-11-23710431
fax: 91-11-23731506; 91-11-23321397
email: tourismminister [at] nic.in, ps-mtc [at] nic.in, ps2motc [at] nic.in, santha [at] nic.in,
jmukharjee2001 [at] yahoo.co.in, rsguptagad [at] yahoo.co.in

India Embassy In The United States
Ambassador Ronen Sen
2107 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. * Washington D.C. 20008
ph: 202-939-7000; fax: 202-265-4351
email: ambassador [at] indiagov.org, dcmoff [at] indiagov.org,
culturewing [at] indiagov.org
website: www.indianembassy.org/embassy/contact.htm

INDIAN EMBASSIES IN OTHER COUNTRIES:
www.indianembassy.org/newsite/govtofindialinks.asp#6

ALL EMAILS IN THIS ALERT:

presidentofindia [at] rb.nic.in, vpindia [at] nic.in, r.sevugan [at] nic.in, envisect [at] nic.in, tourismminister [at] nic.in, ps-mtc [at] nic.in, ps2motc [at] nic.in, santha [at] nic.in, jmukharjee2001 [at] yahoo.co.in, rsguptagad [at] yahoo.co.in, ambassador [at] indiagov.org, dcmoff [at] indiagov.org, culturewing [at] indiagov.org

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Honorable Government Officials of India:

Please uphold longstanding Indian law that illegalizes owning or “dancing” a bear. With roughly 8,000 non-captive sloth bears left in India, the World Conservation Union classifies this species as “vulnerable.” Moreover, the use of dancing bears to amuse tourists is an unusually cruel form of entertainment.

Over 100 cubs are unlawfully snatched from the wild each year. Sloth bears, some only weeks old, are seized from mothers shot dead before their eyes. Many succumb to starvation, dehydration, suffocation or shock during long journeys with Kalandar gypsies who use them to beg for money. An estimated 500 to 600 sloth bears are forced into lives of misery. Wild bears may live over 20 years; as dancing bears, they die by seven or eight years of age.

As babies, the bears’ teeth are filed to render them defenseless. Later their tender muzzles are pierced with a fire-heated needle to thread a training rope through mutilated bone, cartilage and nerve membrane. Trainers drag bears by these ropes to control them and make them perform unnatural stunts such as balancing upon two legs. The rope grinds against a bear’s open wound, leading to chronic infections. Agitated bears appear to “dance.” In reality, they are frantic to escape the pain.

Over time the bears are so conditioned to “dance” on hot plates, they begin their weary waltz as soon as they hear familiar music. Most endure lifelong malnutrition and abuse that can result in blindness, intestinal disorders and behavioral aberrations such as chronic pacing.

Many tourists will not vacation in countries that condone or ignore such blatant cruelty. I urge government officials to enforce the Indian Wildlife Protection Act and subsidize bear sanctuaries for retired dancing bears, all of whom are too disfigured and tame to survive in the wild. Please permanently end the dancing bear trade and help Kalandar nomads find new means of employment.

Thank you,

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts kinship circle brenda shoss bears sloth bears dancing bears wildlife conservation india bear trade World Society for the Protection of Animals wspa Indian Wildlife Protection Act flickr photos