“What is a sloth bear?”
This question baffled several people who were interviewed across three of India’s major cities — Bengaluru, Kolkata and Delhi. For the occasion of World Sloth Bear Day, team members from Wildlife SOS conducted a vox pop to find out if people knew that the sloth bear had nothing to do with the slow-moving, tree-dwelling animal called sloth.
One of the reasons why this confusion still exists among the general populace is that of all ursines, the sloth bear species wears the epithet of the ‘least researched bear’. It also happens to be one that lacks representation in popular culture. The image of a lone polar bear on an isolated ice floe entered the popular imagination as a symbol of global warming, and the giant panda too has become conservation’s favourite child. Additionally, most animated films favour brown and black bears.
But sloth bears have received little attention — few are aware that the famous bear Baloo from The Jungle Book is actually a sloth bear! During the interviews our team members took, many claimed to have the knowledge of this animated bear, but none seemed to know what his species is. Several even mistook him for being a grizzly bear!
The respondents we interviewed were young adults, most in their twenties. In all likelihood, they may not have personally witnessed the ‘dancing’ bears that were popular for entertaining people on the streets. This is highly fortunate, because the efforts of Wildlife SOS’ co-founders to make sure that all tortured sloth bears in captivity were freed from the cruel practice were long and challenging, yet entirely successful.
Given how low the knowledge about this magnificent species endemic to our country is, it became our responsibility to generate awareness about these shaggy-furred animals at our vox pop locations. Our team members took this as an opportunity to enlighten people about the number of sloth bears left in the wild, and the threats they are facing today. Some of our respondents were quick to guess the problems plaguing wildlife currently — deforestation, poaching, habitat loss, and climate change.
It is important to note that young Indians are curious and eager to learn about animals in peril, and if they can support endeavours towards conserving them. The members of our team present at each of the three spots informed people about the efforts our organisation makes to provide a new lease of life to bears rescued from dire situations.
We offer the physically harmed bears medical treatments, shelter and humane care across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. Many happened to be acquainted with our work, and several are now in the know about the troubles haunting wild bears. However, spreading awareness far and wide on wildlife conservation is a task that we are always willing to undertake, and work tirelessly towards.
Join Us for a Webinar on Tracking Sloth Bears!
Sloth bears are one of India’s four ursine species, the other being Himalayan brown bears, Asiatic black bears, and the highly reclusive sun bear. With the aim of securing a future for wild sloth bears, Wildlife SOS has been involved in a large-scale ecological study of these bears.
Through the use of GPS collars on these nocturnal mammals, the study sought to learn more about the movement pattern of these elusive bears, their population, their home range and habitat preference, and their distribution. Through our study, we have finally secured groundbreaking information on these precious Indian bears that gives us a peek into their behaviour and their habits.
If you are curious to know what we found out from our revolutionary study, don’t forget to attend our webinar! Click here to join us on the 12th of October, 2023, at 7:30 PM IST to learn more about sloth bears.
Our professional speakers are ready to help you gain an in-depth understanding of the threats sloth bears are challenged with, the state-of-the-art tracking tools used to examine this species, and the conservation measures that are ongoing to ensure their survival.
Compendium Release at BBRC
On World Sloth Bear Day, Wildlife SOS released its valuable compendium for the year 2022-23 at its Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre in Bangalore, which is located within Bannerghatta National Park. The compendium was launched in the presence of chief guests Shri A K Singh, Member Secretary, Karnataka Zoo Authority, and B K Singh, retd. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka.
The collection includes critical investigations on sloth bears carried out by Wildlife SOS in the past year. The radio collaring of sloth bears in Daroji and Gudekote is one of the subjects covered. Some of the topics included the radio collaring of sloth bears in Daroji and Gudekote, as well as sloth bear attacks in the Deccan plateau, and research on veterinary medicine with regards to sloth bears in rescued care. The study on various types of human-animal conflict was also included in the compendium.
This compendium is simply another successful contribution to our organization’s wildlife conservation efforts. Wildlife SOS vows to maintain a balance between biological field studies and veterinary research on World Sloth Bear Day 20223, the day commemorating the survival of the species that began this over-twenty-year-long journey for us.
