Classified as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List, sloth bears are endemic to the Indian subcontinent and 90% of the species’ population is found in India.
Classified as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List, sloth bears are endemic to the Indian subcontinent and 90% of the species’ population is found in India.
The first World Sloth Bear Day was observed on Wednesday to create awareness and strengthen conservation efforts around the unique bear species endemic to the Indian subcontinent. Classified as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List, sloth bears are endemic to the Indian subcontinent and 90% of the species’ population is found in India.
The proposal to celebrate World Sloth Bear Day was proposed by Wildlife SOS India, an organization involved in sloth bear conservation and conservation for more than two decades, and the IUCN-Species Survival Commission sloth bear expert team accepted the proposal and This day was declared to be celebrated. Whole world.
On Wednesday, officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) along with other stakeholders participated in an event to celebrate the day in Agra. CZA Member Secretary Sanjay Kumar Shukla presented a letter of support for World Sloth Bear Day on behalf of CZA and urged every zoo in India and across the world to celebrate the day for the conservation and protection of this Indian species of bear.
Government officials and members of Wildlife SOS at an event to celebrate the first World Sloth Bear Day in Agra, Uttar Pradesh on October 12, 2022. photo credit: special arrangement
Sloth bears are identified by their very distinct long, shaggy dark brown or black fur, distinct white V-shaped chest patch and four-inch-long ivory-colored curved claws that keep termites and ants out of rock-hard mounds. are used for extraction. Listed under Schedule I of the India (Wildlife Protection) Act, 1972, this species enjoys the same protection as tigers, rhinos and elephants.
barbaric tradition being resolved
A press statement issued by Wildlife SOS on Wednesday said the organization rescued and rehabilitated hundreds of “dancing bears, thereby solving a 400-year-old Berber tradition (of dancing bears), while the nomadic Qalandar community’s Alternative livelihoods were also provided to the members.
Nishith Dharaiya, co-chair of the IUCN Sloth Bear Expert Team, said Hinduyou that sloth bear ( melurus ursinus) was an important species and endemic species of the Indian subcontinent with small populations in Nepal and Sri Lanka. “For a long time sloth bears were exploited as dancing bears. Although the practice has been banned, there are still some cases of rescue,” said Mr. Dharaiya. He explained that sloth bears were omnivores and termites. , ants and other social insects and lived on fruits.
“They cannot eat meat and feed on fruits. The biggest seed dispersal is. Sloth bears are found in all parts of the country except Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states. Human sloths have been observed in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra over the years. There has been an increase in the incidents of clashes,” Mr. Dharaiya said.
He also said that estimating the population was very difficult because they were nocturnal and completely black, and camera traps would not work. Shri Dharaiya said that there are eight species of bears across the world, out of which four are Sloth Bear, Himalayan Black Bear, Brown Bear and Malayan Sun Bear.
Kartik Satyanarayana, CEO and Co-Founder, Wildlife SOS, said, “This is a huge milestone for sloth bear conservation in India. From now on October 12 will always be a reminder to the whole world to help save and preserve the bear.”
“They can’t eat flesh and forage on fruits is the biggest seed dispersal”Nishith DharaiyaCo-Chair of IUCN