Hi, thanks for visiting my 'Just Giving' page.

This is Aftab, he's a sloth bear, and was rescued by IAR from an unbearable (pardon the pun) life of cruelty as one of India's so called 'dancing bears'. I am sponsoring him for one year by doing fundraising to pay for the cost of his care and treatment.

Aftab means 'a ray of sunlight'.

When brough to the IAR Bear Sanctary Aftab was about six years old and looked worn out and tired. The workers there were aghast to see that his kalandar masters (the bear dancers) had smashed all the canine teeth in his mouth. The poor bear also had a giant wound on his muzzle; this showed us what he had gone through all these years, the years of silent torture he had been a victim of! The Kalandars carry out repeated muzzle piercings to keep the pain level high and this had taken a severe toll on his delicate nose. The vets needed to do some serious surgical intevention to save him.

Aftab's kalandar master had been convinced to surrender his bear and to ensure that he would not try doing this to any other bear he was offered a seed fund to establish himself in an alternative livelihood so that he could live without exploiting wild animals. His previous owner was enlisted on the Kalandar Rehabilitation Program and would receive one time support. His children would be sent to school and their education supported by Wildlife SOS. His wife, if she so wished, could receive training in anything that would establish her as a second income earner. He would also be monitored in the future by our team to ensure he did not get tempted to get another bear.

The one thing that Aftab did after reaching the centre was eat a nice proper full meal, relishing every bite of the porridge with the fresh milk, fruits, dates and honey that was offered to him.

Aftab's health started improving in a few months after he arrived at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility. His appetite slowly increased and his coat became thick and fluffy, just as his wounds started healing.

He has also become more active and spends his time exploring his large forested enclosure and discovering the treats his keepers hide for him in various spots in the enclosure. He also invests vast amounts of time finding a comfy spot to sleep in. His friends include Malik Bear and Maqbool Bear.

Aftab enjoys eating his fresh watermelon and loves playing hide and seek with the keepers, finding the peanuts in his enclosure that is a part of his enclosure enrichment program at the Agra Bear rehab center.

He remains shy of strangers and vanishes if there is a new keeper near his enclosure. All those traumatic years have faded along with his healed wounds but fear of new people around him will take a little longer to go. Everyday our only hope is the life of dignity and freedom he now leads will make room for happier memories filled with peanuts and jaggery and everything else he likes.



For more information about the Agra Bear Facilty and on the work that International Animal Rescue does with the dancing bears, please see:

http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/projects/14/Agra+bear+rescue+facility.html

Although he's already been rescued now, it takes almost £2000 a year to take care of him each year. I am doing fundraising to pay for all his expenses over the next year.

Please wish me luck, and revisit my page to see how I'm doing at taking care of him. If you'd like to help, please feel free to make a donation. Both myself and Aftab would greatly appreciate it.

Elaine Brown