BANGALORE: Freed from the clutches of their captors, these sloth bears will now have a chance to be as wild as they can get. A bear rehabilitation centre which will house 22 rescued bears was inaugurated today at the Bannerghatta Biological Park near here.The sloth bear rehabilitation centre is the first such functioning centre for rescued sloth bears from keepers of dancing bears (called kalandars) in India. The project, conceived as a “wild within walls” under the patronage of Ms Maneka Gandhi, former minister for social justice and empowerment, will provide shelter to 22 of these animals, and will also be able to hold more confiscated bears in the future.

The project, initiated in 2000 in the Bannerghatta Biological Park, is a collaborative effort of the Zoo Authority of Karnataka, the forest department of the Government of Karnataka, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), apart from the Central Zoo Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

Stanley Johnson, Senior Advisor, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said, “I am very happy that the bear rehabilitation centre is being inaugurated. It is an example of how wildlife conservation and animal welfare can combine to provide help to animals in distress.”

Joanne Fielder, IFAW Emergency Relief Veterinarian , said the organisation was pleased to be involved with the project which aims to provide the highest possible standards of care possible to those bears rescued from the entertainment industry, as detailed by the 1998 legislation banning the use of lions, tigers, bears and monkeys from training and exhibition. “This legislation will hopefully provide an excellent example of animal welfare to numerous other countries,” she said.

The project is being developed over 40 acres of land in the Bannerghatta Biological Park, while the technical expertise is being provided by international experts on bears. The sloth bears will have access to its natural foods like termites, and other insects, honey and a variety of fruit-bearing trees in their new abode. They will also be fed some quantities of substitute foods like cooked ragi (a cereal common in South India), cooked rice, jaggery, coconut, sugarcane, bananas, milk, and other veterinary supplements.

Fielder said the resident bears will have their lives changed immeasurably, from the cruel and unnatural confinement of life as a dancing street bear, to the luxury of a large naturally vegetated enclosure, where the bears are once again able to interact freely with conspecifics (those belonging to their own species).