The Teddy bear man. Photo courtesy: AP
The Indian forests have changed a lot from the life and times of Mowgli and the irony couldn’t have been starker. In what seems a modern adaptation of the famed Jungle Book, this tale of a female sloth bear is more heart wrenching than the movies featuring such story lines for this still awaits a happy ending.
Sloth bear Rani
Rama Singh Munda (member of the indigenous tribe) from Ruitisila village in Orissa’s Keonjhar district, about 225 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, gave shelter to female sloth bear Rani when she followed him home and was 2-3 days old. The bear would have met a certain death at the hands of predators had she not followed Rama. The family christened her as ‘Rani’ and she was the loved new member of the family. The family which was bereaving the loss of Rama’s wife discovered a reason to smile.
The 5 year old daughter of Rama, Dulki found a companion to play with. The family used to share their meals with Rani, Rama even used to take her for joyrides on cycle and all through the time they never used new her for any commercial purposes nor did they caused any harm to the furry animal.
However the euphoria of the girl and bear was short-lived as the news reached media circles and the officers took away the bear (only on second attempt as Rani had escaped to forest during the first raid. However the bear returned to her only home later in the day where they darted her and took her to the zoo) Rama was held captive in the jail for breaching the law and keeping a sloth bear at home.
It can only happen in factual realms that an innocent tribal who has been keeping the bear for over a year with affection and care was arrested and put behind bars. We have heard time and again about the pitiful state of zoos in India, the conditions at Nandankanan Zoo are no better. How judicious a decision it was on the part of officials to send Rama to jail and Rani to an unkempt cage? Solomon would be deranged in heavens.
The man is now set free but then who cares about the family…the feelings of the bear who found herself in a cage without her family? The court of law, the animal activists, the NGOs must see at affairs from an animal’s viewpoint too. What good are animal laws if they fail to serve the animals?
Motherless Dulki never knew any Archies teddy bear, for her only buddy was her furry friend with animation.
Dear Bear, the fiction lore of Rudyard Kipling was better than the realism and Rama you’d always remain our Teddy bear man!
Very nicely brought up!!
keep up the good job 🙂
Thanks Sunint!
Keep watching this space for more…
Very usfeul post. I thought to let you know that you website isn’t getting displayed properly on android browser on my pda.
Have a good time…sorry for typos
I loved reading this post,Abhishek! How did this thought come to you to write about animals, esp. dogs like this? My family loves all animals and I asked my husband also to read this post.
It was nice of Rama to take Rani home. It is typical of our people to put him behind bars. Hope he is able to visit Rani with his daughter, at least once in a while. Rani must be missing this family of hers.
Congratulation for the Award, this post of yours deserves it.
Thanks Sandhya!
Ever since I can remember…I’ve always loved dogs. Why I have loved them has a selfish rationality[I’ve yet to meet humans who can love to the decree of a dog henceforth the more humans I have met,the more I have come to fall in love with the canines] What goes on inside the head of a dog always perplexed me…what’s concealed underneath their barks always bamboozled the dim wit me:)
It was then that I pleaded my well versed dog to enlighten me and the human species with his point of view,the dog’s perspective of the world…as he sees it. With this ideation, Dog with the blog had its humble genesis.
I’m thankful to all of you wonderful readers,the animal lovers who have given the dog a chance to share his mind with you!
keep reading!
I hope your hubby likes it too:)
that was a lovely post
Thanks Sorcerer!
My heart goes out to the family and the bear. Such a sad state of affairs.
CONGRATS on the Blogadda pick.
Thanks Shail!