Visit To Bear Rescue Center
Rotaract Club of Bangalore Spandana paid a fun and educational visit to Wildlife SOS’s Bear Rescue Centre, Bannerghatta. The wonderful visit was charted on the 8th of September, starting in the wee hours of the day. Starting out from across Bangalore, the team reported at the venue by 9:00 AM. The team met Mr. Vinod, the point of contact at Wildlife SOS, who led us further through the national park and to their Rescue Centre. Arriving there, we were presented with an hour-long awareness session on the plight of domesticated wild animals and Wildlife SOS’s role over the decades in safeguarding them. Following this, we were led to the shelters, where we were further educated about the daily lives of the “Sloth Bears," the main occupants at the centre. Getting an idea of their agenda for the day—eat, play, and sleep—we set out in teams to tend to each. Starting with setting up their meals, this team took care of their spick and span cutlery, followed by loading and distributing several tens of kilos of porridge—their all-rounder cuisine. While this team was busy getting them energized, another team was having fun priming their toys for the day. These bears barely got any physical activities out of their natural habitat and hence were provided with playthings to stimulate their canine instincts. From bamboo-box treats to giant chew toys, these people almost thought they were tending to big pups. Elsewhere, team three was tending to their enclosures, providing the everyday landscaping and cleaning services. Now that the bears were energized for the day, it was time to make them expend some. The team spent a fun 90 minutes treating the bears to their favourite watermelons and dates. The bears too kept us occupied long enough to not know the time. Throughout this, the team had the time of their lives. To culminate the day, we presented our facilitators for the day, Mr. Athul and Mr. Pranav, with a small token of gratitude and bid adieu. The amount of fellowship achieved over the course of tending to those docile creatures was simply put, aptly fitting for Rotaract.
