Saving the Dancing Bears
Documentaries • 01-Dec-2023
For over 400 years, in India, the rare Sloth Bear was targeted for human exploitation…first for the emperors, then as roadside entertainment for villagers and tourists who paid to watch the bears jump, conditioned after years of abuse by trainers.
Given the ongoing legacy of cruelty, two individuals decided to stop this practice, rescue the bears still in captivity and create a sanctuary where they can heal and live in safety for the rest of their lives. This is the story of the founders of WILDLIFE SOS-Kartik Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani. Early on, they realized they had to help the people whose livelihood had depended for so long on the Dancing Bear trade--finding jobs for the men, empowering the women and providing education for the sometimes exploited children. Saving the Dancing Bears is more than a wildlife rescue film: in the process of saving the bears, they also saved a human community.
Up Next in Documentaries
-
Leopard Rescue
This Ecoflix Original explores how leopards are rescued in India. The leopard is one of the most mysterious and elusive of the big cats, The felines are increasingly coming into contact with humans. These encounters include leopards falling into deep open wells, getting caught in traps and locked...
-
Koko - The Nature Documentary
An afternoon spent with the famous gorilla who knows sign language, and the scientist who taught her how to "talk". One of the first words that Koko used to describe herself was Queen. The gorilla was only a few years old when she first made the gesture-sweeping a paw diagonally across her chest ...
-
The Pangolin Man
With the people of south-western Uganda forced to hunt pangolins for survival due to a lack of income, one local man fights to save not only the lives of the pangolins, but the very people themselves.
