Profit and pain of wildlife plunder

Wildlife SOS is credited with the eradication of the ‘dancing bear’ practice in India,^[5] rescuing bears from abusive owners and poachers and rehabilitating them in one of four centers in India-

1. Agra Bear Rescue Facility (2000) in Agra

2. Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Facility (2005) in Karnataka

3. Van Vihar Bear Rescue Facility (2006) in Bhopal

4. Purulia Bear Rescue Centre (2007) in West Bengal

The bears are given the medical care required, fed and allowed to socialize and roam in large, free-range areas. So far, more than 640 sloth bears have been rehabilitated by the organization. Wildlife SOS also carries out ex-situ conservation studies on the bears to enhance existing conservation measures for the species’ survival and provides sustainable, alternative livelihoods to the bears’ former owners and their families.^[6]

Much progress has been made but much more still needs to be done. Just as many governments around the world aspire to have certain universal human rights and universal suffrage so we must aim to deliver policies and principles that enact a culture of no longer tolerating wildlife profiteering of pain and plunder.

If people will actively social distance and where masks to prevent themselves catching and spreading disease than why can’t they also see the bigger picture and find wildlife pain and plunder policies adopted and promoted so as to ensure not only do the cruel acts no longer take place but also acknowledge the economic and social benefits of such policies and the immensely expensive and costly act to human lives and the ecomicies of humans in shutting down a global economy due to the spread like wildfire of any new potential pandemic conditions.

If we do not fight to draw a new line in the sand or adaopt a new social and economic norm what will be the future alternative for man? Some people believe it’s a matter of life and death, I can assure you it’s much more important than that!

On Katmai’s coast, eight female bears are currently collared with GPS devices. The collars represent one initiative of Changing Tides, a three-year research project. The collars transmit location information on a daily basis, which provides researchers with details on the bears’ home ranges and how their movements correspond to seasonal food availability.

After the collars were placed on the bears in May, six of the sows were recaptured in July in order to run tests, collect physical samples, and upload more complex data from the collars. In October, the collared sows will be captured again in order to collect a final round of samples and remove the collars prior to hibernation. In the event that some of the sows cannot be recaptured, there is an automatic mechanism installed on the collars that will cause them to fall off.

Technology in itself is not fundamentally evil it has potential for great good as well as great ill.