Objectives

Contents
  The investigators were concerned:  
 
• To establish the number of bears actually being owned / handled by a specific group, thereby allowing us to estimate the number of dancing bears in captivity in eight states of India.
 
     
 
• To assess the number of Kalandhar settlements in existence, their location in these states, rough population counts, and how many people still depended on the dancing bear for sustenance.
 
     
 
. • To study the dancing bear in relation to its owner / trainer, by observing it in the villages where it is kept in domestic surroundings, by recording its behaviour, diet, and habits in captivity, and to determine areas of deprivation, active cruelty and ill treatment; both during the training process and during its life as a dancing bear.
 
     
 
. • To understand the socio-economic conditions of the bear owner / trainer, their reasons for being in this profession, whether they are open to any mode of rehabilitation and could be encouraged to give up this trade / means of earning a livelihood.
 
     
 
. • To study the history of bear dancing in India and the myths and stories that surround the bear in Indian villages and small towns. To assess the importance and relationship of the bear to the other animals used by the Kalandar for his living.

 
     
 
. • To find out the source of the bear cubs, the process of capturing and selling the bear cubs; the extent of injury, death and trauma to the animals involved. To investigate methods of transportation and trade.
 
     
 
. • To investigate the impact of cub capture on the wild population of bear species and the increasing confrontation between the bear and man in the wild. To investigate any possible links between this trade and other peripheral trades for pelts or bear parts.
 
     
 
. • To study the efficacy of state and national Laws as they exist on paper and as they are actually implemented, regarding the poaching of the cubs, the method of licensing which permits purchase, transportation and the dancing of the cubs.
 
     
 
. • To suggest methods of controlling this profession, preventing the entry of new cubs into the market, and providing plans for rehabilitation keeping in mind the fate of the bear and its owner / trainer.
 

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