Methods:
The Hunter / Trader questionnaire was administered in Phase II of the project. The investigators accompanied a small group of Kalandars when they went on a cub purchasing trip during the season, (November to mid March.)

For a complete understanding of the plight of the Sloth Bear in India today, it was vital that the local populace, the tribals, the forest guards and wildlife authorities also be interviewed and their attitudes to this trade be assessed. They were questioned for additional information on trade routes, bear markets, transportation methods, and in order to gain information on the degree of abuse involved at each stage.

The Survey Questionnaire given to the Kalandars had provided some data about methods of capturing cubs and the attitudes of the local people to the cruelties involved in this trapping. The Survey estimated that 80% of the Kalandars interviewed had never visited the bear capture areas or involved themselves in the actual trapping or hunting of the cubs. Their role was only to train and dance the bears. The remaining 20% usually in the older age group had gone to the “dangs” or forests for purchasing bear cubs. As such their knowledge of the capture methods is hearsay in most cases.

However by accompanying them on one such trip allowed the investigators, to meet the tribals, such as Gonds and Bhils, who are involved in the actual trapping, and talk to them. There was no question of administering questionnaires to them.

A few of the Forest tribes or adivasis are the poachers. They have lived all their lives in the jungles and are adept at studying animal signs and tracks. They are aware of bear behaviour and get alerted to a female in heat. Once such a female is identified they keep track of her movements and behaviour patterns through mating / pregnancy and finally until the female bear drops her cubs. Being adept at jungle lore they are able to identify the den / cave the pregnant female is using currently. She does emerge from the cave after about two or three weeks to forage for food for a few hours in the night or in the early hours of dawn.

The tribals keep a constant check on this female and her routine foraging period. They ideally prefer to remove the cubs when the cubs are 3-5 weeks old. A small group of 6-7 poachers camp on a ledge overhanging the bear’s denning cave; or seek a vantage point from where they can observe her without her sensing their presence. They wait till she leaves her cave usually between late dusk and dawn for about two to four hours. When the mother is out a few members jump down and gather dry leaf litter in a heap at the entrance of the cave. This heap is designed to be in the way of the female bear on her return path to her cave. This heap is set fire to and while the fire is burning two other members enter the cave, after checking the cave is free of danger as the mother often returns by another possible entrance sensing a threat to her cubs. This check consists of throwing a few rocks into the cave. The result of this check could be silence in which case it is safe to enter the cave, or an angry animal charging out at them, in which case their skill at climbing trees would come in handy.

They enter the cave with a flaming torch ( wooden handle wrapped with a rag soaked in kerosene ). This helps them find their way around the cave in the dark. Sloth bears usually choose caves for delivering the cubs with extreme care. Caves with two or more rooms are preferred, especially in areas of competition from other predators like hyenas, leopards etc which could prey on the young cubs. The inner most room is generally like a well and deep enough to make access difficult. She herself goes through a great deal of discomfort to reach the cubs. This is to ensure that the cubs do not stray out of the cave or away from their den, while the mother is foraging for food. This makes the poaching of the cubs an even more Herculean task. The above process i.e. poaching is completed at record speed, as they are too scared of the wrath of the returning mother. Two members of the poaching team are constantly on the look out. Once the cubs are found and brought out of the caves, in a gunny sack, they are again transported to the next destination, which would be the Kalandar customer camping on the edge of the forest or an animal dealer procuring the animals for a zoo / circus; or “private dealers for foreigners”.

The Kalandar Survey revealed the biggest danger during trapping cubs is the Sloth bear Mother herself with her ferocious tendency to protect her young (Dr. Shankar, Wildlife Institute, Dehradun). This was confirmed by the tribal trappers. If it is possible to enter the den when the mother is foraging and throw a gunny sack over the cubs and carry them away then that is done. While the Kalandars had stated the mother bear is distracted by guns being shot overhead or firecrackers, this information seemed dubious because the possession of firearms and firecrackers in sanctuaries and national parks is a very serious offence, and the trapping of cubs could also involve at times, the killing of the mother bear and disposal of her carcass.

Upon questioning the forest tribes we were told they avoid such tactics because they do not wish to draw the attention of the forest guards; secondly where bear cub poaching is specifically concerned, the Sloth Bear seems a short-sighted animal and it attacks only when too close to a human being it has surprised, out of fear and shock. It prefers to avoid encounters with humans therefore they too prefer to avoid confronting the female sloth bear. In our dialogue with the trappers, and tribals they emphasized that a higher percentage of bear - man encounters are now taking place because of a steady increasing encroachment into the reserved forests by human activities (timber felling) . Poaching however contributes to this disturbance in no small measure. In numerous States, (U.P. and Himachal for example,) farmers are allowed to carry firearms and frequent raids on the crops by a bear leads to the farmer shooting the animal and keeping the pelt or selling it to a local trader. If later any cubs are found, Kalandars wandering in that area are informed and the cub is purchased by them. This is yet another way in which cubs enter the market but again no detailed studies are available in this area.

Sources / Locations:
The forested areas of Uttar Pradesh specially near the border of Nepal, the forested areas of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are suspected areas of Capture. Members of the Bhil and Gond tribes; and branches of the Saharia tribe exist in each state who not only excel at trapping but are very quick in reaching their customer.

Transportation / Estimated number of cubs: The preferred mode of transportation for bringing the cub from the capture area to the market is on foot. The Adivasi tribal never moves far from the forest edges. The cubs are carried to the waiting customer in gunny sacks, cloth bags, cane baskets, singly or in pairs. The cubs during this purchasing trip were 4-5 weeks old. The investigators moved to seven locations each about 5-8 kilometers from each other, purchasing the cubs. During this period the Kalandars camped outside the peripheries of the forest but took care to shift camp frequently. At each point several Kalandars enter the jungle to inform the tribals of their need for cubs. We were fortunate to purchase the cubs in a short time otherwise the Kalandars could need up to two or three months to complete their purchases.

At two points we met Kalandars from Bihar, Orissa, Jhansi and Varanasi who were also purchasing cubs. These were brought to them by middlemen / traders who had already made the initial purchase. The trader too moves by road to his main market / selling points. This meeting was arranged in an open field and the investigators were invited to join in the bargaining. The cubs were skillfully camouflaged in wooden crates filled with hay. Otherwise the Kalandars, buyers and sellers camped in the open air with their womenfolk and children. The cubs were displayed to the buyers who also fed them and handled them to check their health.

At another point we stopped to question a small group of Kalandar families who had a more permanent settlement near the forest. They apparently purchased cubs only to resell them to other Kalandars and they had one huge golden Sloth Bear which they kept as a pet and several dancing bears. The investigators, along with the accompanying Kalandars used buses and autorickshaws, tongas and tractors during this part of the travelling or simply walked.

After the purchasing the Kalandars transport the cubs in any box, basket, or container which can seem like a piece of travelling baggage, often tied with cloth outside. They rarely attempt to feed the cubs en route for fear of detection. Our group packed the cubs into fruit crates and covered them with hay. The heat thereby generated in the box was high and the cubs were quite limp and dehydrated by the time we arrived at Delhi. At no point did anyone check our baggage. On the two day return journey the cubs were fed only on the insistence of the investigators. Although the cubs mewled loudly on being touched and sucked at the milk bottle with sufficient noise, the apathetic fellow passengers assumed we were carrying pups and gave us no trouble.

Several of the Kalandars take the precaution to drug the cubs with “opium” or “Affim” so that the cubs do not feel hungry and squeal during transportation to far off places. The group of Kalandars we accompanied purchased six cubs, of which two died en route; a third succumbed to the stress and handling 24 hours later. Three went on to the Kalandar village but one more died within a week of arrival from continuous diarrhea. Only two survived transportation.

a) Depletion of the wild Sloth Bear population: In view of the fact a sloth bear produces her litter of two cubs (on an average) only once in two or two and a half years and very often human intrusion can cause her to kill her own cubs, the Sloth Bear numbers are reducing quite fast. This slow reproductive rate of the Sloth Bear has important consequences in view of the uncontrolled poaching currently taking place.

b) Increased man-bear conflicts: As we have mentioned earlier it is no coincidence that areas of heavy poaching are also marked by more savage and frequent man-bear conflicts.

Reasons for easy poaching:
The reasons have been listed below:
a) The government policy of allowing tribal settlements / villages to remain inside the core forest areas, sanctuaries, and national parks. This creates a situation which allows bear - man encounters. The subject is one which is currently generating a great deal of heat and discussion in India; namely a large school of thought would like to preserve tribal culture and their ancient knowledge eg. Of medicines and herbs and the investigators fully support this.

However the investigators also found an increasing commercialization of values amongst the tribals and this coupled with the conviction that the forest resources are theirs by traditional right is leading to an unhealthy situation. Our questioning of the tribals only affirmed that they did not feel poaching upset any ecological balances; they seemed sceptical that sloth bears and cubs could be endangered; the rapid depletion of a species was only viewed as a loss of income. The holistic respectful attitude one expects from a tribal culture that depends on the forest for a living, wasn’t there.

Perhaps our investigation brought to the forefront only those engaged in poaching and trapping and hence is a biased statement. However the investigators still strongly feel settlements / villages / even those belonging to tribals, if allowed to exist inside the core forest areas do create problems. Fuel collection, cattle grazing, honey collection, fruit, flowers and leaves collection (which varies from state to state..) will go on. During our study, eleven villages in / around three forested areas were visited. These villages were chosen because several of the villagers had been victims of bear attacks. These encounters most of the time took place because the villager was in the forested areas, either cycling through, or hunting game, but he was where he shouldn’t have been. The sloth bear taken by surprise has been known to run away, but if the human is just too close it rears up on its hind legs and slashes with its claws. Most of the injuries examined by us were by the bear mauling the villager with its claws and biting it around the head region.

b) Certain of the exploitative tribals find supplying the young of wild animals or birds (not only sloth bear cubs), a lucrative trade. In view of the fact the government has a protectionist policy towards the tribals it would perhaps concretize the government’s intentions if practical vocational training was given to these tribes and jobs be provided to them. Another small example, cooking gas be provided free of cost or at nominal cost to prevent fuel forays into the forest. However in view of the ground realities one cannot fault the tribals for continuing with their old practices. At a few villages outside the MP forest areas, solar energy had been utilised to help the villagers cook and light their lamps. Apparently a storm knocked out some of the solar panels and since then no government agency has repaired / replaced the panels and the villagers are back to entering the forests to collect firewood. This serves as one example of why and how poaching becomes easy revenue and secondly explains why the tribal gives little credence to any official statements of assistance. When the protected tribals become suppliers to consumers outside, their existence inside protected areas starts endangering the very existence of the protected areas themselves.

c) Poor infrastructure of the Forest Dept. and inadequate government support at the grass roots level to their forest patrolling staff. The Indian government has at all times considered Wildlife and its protection a low priority area. It is only in the last decade that scientific studies have been encouraged highlighting the incredibly rapid habitat destruction and large scale poaching that has been systematically creating problems. Dedicated Indian conservationists either suffer from the red tape of State and Central bureaucracy; from inadequate funding; inefficient use of existing funds; vested political interests that override conservation concerns; lack of a powerful forum or platform where action can ride on information. More than that, time and again our survey revealed the forest guards are insufficiently paid, insufficiently armed or clad, insufficiently supplied vehicles and radio equipment; in short they are asked to do a superhuman task under the most archaic conditions with the most obsolete tools. This is a fair ground for the sowing of seeds of corruption.

d) Last but not least, there has been very limited education of the public in the value of preserving our forest and animal wealth. It is not enough to target schoolchildren with ecological studies; they are not currently the source of our problems and we may not leave them a future to exercise their guardianship. The education of the rural and uneducated masses has to begin; not merely to eradicate the superstitions associated with the curative value of a hair of the sloth bear but on larger issues of being a customer for any kind of wildlife trade.