This was evident last week when Chitwan National Park (CNP) arrested two Kalandars or bear trainers -- Ali Jaan alias ´Kalia´ and Nawab Ali -- for illegally holding one bear named Rubina. The two accused hail from India´s Shumshergunj area in Uttar Pradesh state. Rubina was rescued from Harvastar village.[break]
While Kalia was arrested along with his wife, Ali was caught along with his spouse and seven children during a raid. It has, however, been learnt that Ali was released later on bail on humanitarian grounds.
“The guilty must be brought to book as per National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973, which bans possession of sloth dancing bear,” Dr Ravi Sharma Aryal, a CITES expert said.
Sloth Bear is included in Appendix 1 of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and falls under IUCN´s list of vulnerable animals.
“Many Kalandars are still coming to Nepal as our law implementation is very weak,” Manoj Gautam, a conservationist said.
One figure reveals that at least 179 sloth bears are entering Nepal from India annually.
Gautam also informed that all their efforts to hand over the bear to the Wildlife Trust of India through India´s Wildlife SOS, an NGO working in animal rehabilitation there, failed.
“It would be best if the trust take them back as their rehabilitation package is good. But unfortunately all our efforts failed,” he said.
“The bears are vulnerable in Nepal in absence of rehabilitation program and strong legal punishment against the poachers,” he said, adding, “The authorities let the Kalandars go with minimum fine ranging from Rs 60,000 or Rs 80,000.”
On the other hand, Chief Warden of CNP Narendra Manbabu Pradhan said the case is “under investigation.” He said, “We will decide what to do with the rescued bear after our investigation is over which will take few more days.”
Sloth Bears are found only in the Indian sub-continent and a sub-species (Melursus ursinus inornatus) in Sri Lanka. They are often hunted in India for their gall bladders, which hold bear bile, a highly sought after mixture of acids used in traditional Chinese medicines. Thousands of bears are killed each year for this purpose.
Sloth Bears are usually sought after as cubs. Their mothers are often killed. A red-hot iron rod is forced through the nose of a bear cub and a rope is passed through it so it can spend the rest of its life performing on the streets.
Poachers train the bears to dance and respond to commands using the crude tools of pain and fear. Male bears are crudely castrated by use of razor, without any anesthesia. This is done to help minimize the threat to their handlers. The bear´s canine teeth are also often removed by knocking them out with a metal rod.
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