Breaking the cruel cycle of dancing bears

Breaking the cruel cycle of dancing bears

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You have helped to rescue bears in South Korea, Romania, Vietnam and China, and played a hugely important role in our quest to improve attitudes towards animal welfare across the world.

In Pakistan, bears have been abused in the name of tradition and entertainment for hundreds of years.

It’s still common to see the immensely cruel practices of bear dancing - at a horrific cost to the bears’ welfare.

Our local partners, the Pakistan Bioresource Research Centre (BRC), are monitoring the situation on the ground closely, and according to their estimates, there are still 90 bears exploited for the sake of human entertainment.

We are working hard to free all the bears from cruel entertainment industries, and are making good progress – but we will need your help to ensure they are relocated to safe and natural surroundings, where they can live in peace and comfort.

With your support, so far in 2016 we have achieved:

• Four bears have been surrendered and are safe at Balkasar sanctuary, bringing the total number of rescued bears being cared for at the sanctuary to 38.

• As a sign of their commitment, the four bear owners have signed an agreement stating they will never purchase another bear.

• 24 landlords have pledged to stop hosting cruel bear baiting events.

• Helped stop one bear baiting event.

With your help, and together with BRC, we will work until all known bears used for entertainment in Pakistan have been rescued or surrendered.

Support us

Your support is key to bringing an end to animal suffering across the world and here in Aotearoa New Zealand

Ending bear baiting

We worked to stop bears being cruelly exploited in bear baiting – an inhumane bloodsport where bears, unable to defend themselves, battle against trained dogs for entertainment.

Freeing bears from captivity

We worked in Romania to free bears that are being kept in captivity – often in tiny, barren, concrete cages – by private owners and zoos.

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