The Shame of Bear-baiting

Bear baiting in Pakistan is a typical example of how animal abuse can lead to crime and violence in a society. Ironically, there are Pakistanis, who supposedly are Muslims, but they show total disregard for the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who detested animal cruelty and said whoever is kind to animals is kind to himself.  Psychologists see animal cruelty as an outcome of one's own low self-esteem which he covers up by harming creatures on which he has some power. In fact, by torturing larger and stronger animals, he gets even more boost to his ego.

Bear baiting is a shameful act where a bear's claws and canine teeth are pulled out with crude pliers without anesthesia that often leads to severe infection caused by bleeding. The molars of the bear's are smashed with hammers, resulting in blinding the bear in many cases. The bear is then tied to a post and several vicious dogs like Pit Bull Terriers, or dogs cross-bred with the local "Kohati" breeds, are let loose to attack the bear.

In the wild a bear can live up to thirty years but these bears owned by their handlers, known as qalandars, hardly make it up to four years. When a bear dies, the qalandar lays down the dead bear at the feet of a local landlord and receives gifts in return. The landlord then gets the bear stuffed and displays it as a trophy at a photo-op.

The bear baiting in Pakistan, primarily takes place in the Sargodha and Mianwali districts of the Punjab province and to some extent in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. These fights are organized by the local landlords who in defiance of the state, pride themselves on their guns and power over their subdued poor masses.

Sadly enough the fighting dog owned by the landlords also become victims of this "sport."  The dogs are made vicious by chaining and starving them for extended periods. Interestingly enough these practices are carried out by the less powerful landlords who use their dogs as an affirmation of their own status. Nowadays, the bears are kept by the qalandars, but in the past the bear owners came from Afghanistan, who later turned into stateless criminals living in the Indo-Pak region. These criminals purchase the bears from the local shepherds and then trade them for sport where they are paid by the landlords to bring the bears to fight.

Many of the bears are also brought into Pakistan from neighboring India, and that is why it is necessary that we in India do our part in arresting and prosecuting these qalandars. In India, these bear cubs are poached and trained as dancing bears, and are sold for bear baiting when they become too weak to perform. These bears are smuggled from places like Anjar, Okara, and Multan across the porous borders of Gujarat and Punjab. Typically, in bear baiting brown bears and Asiatic black bears are used, while it should be noted that the Asiatic black bears are on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Animals.

Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1890, and under the more recent Punjab Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management Act (1974) and the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance (1972) the capture of bear cubs is prohibited. And most importantly Islamic law also strictly prohibits the baiting of animals. However, to these criminals it makes no difference, whether the law comes from the government or from their God to whom they pray five times a day.

The brown bear and the Himalayan black bear are poached from the mountainous region of NWFP, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and from the Deosai plains. Many are captured by shepherds near NWFP and from Nooristan in Afghanistan simply to be sold to the qalandars.

Historically speaking this evil practice of bear baiting was inherited from the British. The British first imported bears into their own land where they built bear-gardens, with fenced arenas known as pits, furnished with raised seating for spectators. Inside the arena where the "action" took place the bears were chained to posts and hunting dogs were let loose to attack the bears. The practice was abolished by the British Parliament as early as in 1835, but shamefully in Pakistan the small landlords continue the reenactment of their British masters.

Since the 1940s widespread ownership of firearms also has led to the growth of this criminal practice.  Currently, about 600 bears, and 1,000 dogs are still being subjected to this cruel sport at secret locations. In fact, until 1993 these fights were not even considered illegal; and up to 80 bear baiting permits were issued by the authorities.

It was not until the international outcry and realization by the Pakistanis themselves that they were breaking their own laws, that opposition to this practice got attention from the higher authorities. President Musharraf issued a directive to stop the practice resulting in the confiscation of many bears. Increased public awareness and government participation did cause a drop in bear baiting but later on corrupt officials themselves began to tip off the show organizers of any planned raid by the law enforcement agencies. As a result, in 2004, the number of bear baiting events doubled from its previous year.

In fact, as in India, many local officials even helped in arranging the fights and provided security to their organizers. In 2008 the wildlife department received information that a poacher working for an influential wildlife trader in Peshawar had taken two cubs from the wild after killing their mother. The poacher's house was raided, and the cubs confiscated. The poacher showed no fear of the authorities and made several attempts to break in and re-capture the cubs from the custody of the authorities to the point that when the cubs were being transported by a truck to the safety of  Kund Park bear sanctuary, the poacher way-laid the truck twice on the road. The prevalence of such criminal activities can be judged from the fact that in one case the members of the Sukkur Wildlife Division working to prevent cruelty to bears were themselves kidnapped by the provincial landlords.

The qalandars are a disgrace to our society and both India and Pakistan must work together to eradicate them from our land. 

Maneka Gandhi is a six-time Member of Parliament and a former Minister for Environment, Social Justice and Culture and Chairperson of the largest animal welfare organization in Asia:  People for Animals. She is also the author of entomological dictionaries including The Complete Book of Muslim & Parsi Names, published by Penguin Publishers. To join the animal welfare movement: www.peopleforanimalsindia.org

Facebook | Twitter | Email

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form