School Kids learn to care for bears at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility-
A joint effort by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and Wildlife S.O.S
 
Determined to inculcate a feeling of kindness, respect and compassion in the younger generation, Wildlife SOS & U.P. forest department staff interacted with groups of young school students from a school in Delhi, Agra and another group from a school in Hyderabad, who were in Agra on an Educational Excursion.

Delhi School kids at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility

Six school students from Delhi attended a Conservation Awareness Workshop arranged by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and Wildlife SOS from the 23rd May to 26th May 2007. The workshop provided the children an opportunity to interact with Veterinary Doctors and Bear experts at the Agra Bear rescue Facility and learn about the importance of Bear protection and conservation.

In addition the school children also spent time in the Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary about other wildlife present in the region such as Nilgai (Blue-Bull Antelope), Hog deer on land and by boat with forest officers was particularly enlightening., Rhesus Macaques, Birds & Snakes. The Bird watching sessions.

The kids were sensitized to various aspects of the "Dancing Bear Trade" and the efforts taken by Wildlife SOS and Uttar Pradesh Forest Department in trying to solve this 400-year old problem which once plagued the famous Delhi-Agra-Jaipur Highway, through a 'holistic' Bear and Kalandar Rehabilitation Programme.

The children helped out by making enrichment toys for the bears by filling bamboo with honey and dates and constructing climbing platforms for the recreation and enjoyment of these bears to help them recover from their traumatic life spent with the Kalandar (bear-dancer).

Students from Delhi and NCR interested in being a part of the Conservation Education Programme at Agra Bear Rescue Facility, may please contact: E-mail- wsos@vsnl.com

 Agra School Kids at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility

The Agra kids belonging to Grades 1 and 2 were split into groups that took turns to go for bird watching, and visiting the Python Point at the Sur-Sarovar Bird Sanctuary and of course to interact with the staff at the rescue center staff who gave them a presentation and a video show.

The children made a promise...that they would share what they saw and learnt at the Rescue Sanctuary with their friends and family and that they would never pay to see any suffering animal, be it bears, snakes or even monkeys being used for entertainment.

School children from Hyderabad at Sur Sarovar

Children from Future Kids School in Hyderabad were a deeply inquisitive lot, interested in seeing and learning about all aspects of the rescue centre, the story of the dancing bears, our rescue operations, the medical treatment given to them, their feeds,  everything about their behaviour.

They took turns to observe the rescued Bear cubs through a CCTV camera unit which did not allow them to have access to the rescued cubs directly. The cubs were playing in the Cub-weaning Area of the Agra Bear Rescue Facility

The children left with a promise that they will help the animals and birds in their neighbourhood and speak up on their behalf

Such promises and enthusiasm exuded by the younger generation gives us at Wildlife SOS hope that in times to come...animals will have hands and hearts willing to care for them and voices to speak for them and fight for their survival rights.

Schools interested in being a part of the Wildlife SOS Conservation Education Programme may please contact: E-mail- wsos@vsnl.com

To support Wildlife SOS's Conservation Education Campaign, please click here

The Wildlife SOS Education Programme is supported by Alertis- Fund for Bear and Nature Conservation, Netherlands and ZOO-Zoo Outreach Organisation.

The Wildlife SOS Bear rescue project and Qalandar Rehabilitation programme is supported by international partners-International Animal Rescue, Free The Bears–Australia, One Voice Association- France and Humane Society International-Australia.

Feedback from volunteers
Conservation Education Programme at Agra Bear Rescue Facility JUNE 2007