After Abuse In A Peruvian Circus, A Bear Awaits A New Home

[Judi Lynn]

After Abuse In A Peruvian Circus, A Bear Awaits A New Home
March 27, 2015 5:07 PM ET

In Peru, a beleaguered bear is looking for a new home. And the former circus animal is getting high-profile help from Michael Bond, the British author of the well-loved children's books about Paddington bear. The tale of Cholita, an Andean spectacled bear like the fictional Paddington, is less the stuff of children's books and more of horror films.

While Cholita was in the circus, her trainer had her teeth smashed out and paws partially amputated to remove her claws and make her less dangerous. Because of all the trauma, she's also lost all her fur.
"It is such a horrendous story," Bond told The Daily Mail. "I very much hope that ... Cholita will get the care she needs to recover."

Jan Creamer, the head of Animal Defenders International, a group based in Britain, says Cholita was removed from the circus by Peruvian authorities about 10 years ago, but they have been unable to find her a permanent home.
"No zoo will take her because they regard her as ugly," Creamer said by phone from Colombia. "She is the sweetest bear. She is actually quite small. So she has probably been badly fed as a baby and she never really grew properly."

ADI has been working with authorities in Peru and other Latin American nations to stop wild animals from being used in circuses. Creamer has been participating in what is being billed as the largest ever rescue and enforcement operation of wild animals being used in circuses. Working with local authorities, dozens of animals have been seized.

Next month, ADI will be bringing some 33 former circus lions, monkeys and other species found in the raids to a sanctuary in Colorado and hopes Cholita will be on that flight. But it is still waiting for approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Cholita needs special authorization because she is an endangered species.

More:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/03/27/395810942/after-abuse-in-a-peruvian-circus-a-bear-awaits-a-new-home

Environment & Energy:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112783033

[PumpkinAle]

1. Please dear Fish & Wildlife Service

let Cholita come here and be treated with love and respect............ she so deserves it.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Yes, please allow this suffering, innocent animal a place to rest, to find a home, finally. n/t

[3catwoman3]

2. Stories like this are why there are many days...

...I like 4 legged animals much better than the 2 legged variety. I cannot understand cruelty. I put spiders outside when I find them in my house, for crying out loud. How can someone do that to a fellow mammal?

[BrotherIvan]

3. Right there with you

I do the same for spiders and rescue moths from my cats. That poor little bear needs some serious TLC.

[PumpkinAle]

9. Me too

at the way "humans" treat those they think are less than themselves.

[love_katz]

4. Please, Please, let Cholita come to the sanctuary.

[GardeningGal]

5. I'm making a guess

They don't name the sanctuary but having lived in Colorado, I'm guessing it is this one. They are remarkable. If you are looking for a good cause to donate to, please consider them.

Here is a link to their website.

http://www.wildanimalsanctuary.org/

[Judi Lynn]

7. I think this sanctuary you've mentioned is also the one we've read about

which took some former circus prisoners, some lions from a circus in Bolivia which closed when Bolivia created a law banning all circuses from showing, owning animals several years ago. We followed the early stories with absolutely fascination, the trip from Bolivia to their arrival in Colorado.

These people are angels, to offer sanctuary to beaten, abused wonderful creatures who've clearly suffered and lived in fear. They need all the support anyone has to offer.

Thanks for the link to their website.

[Fleurmione]

14. Organizations working on the rescue

The charity which campaigned for the circus bans in Latin America and is rescuing Cholita is the same one which rescued Bolivia's lions, Animal Defenders International. You can donate help get Cholita to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado here http://www.ad-international.org/CholitaAppealUS

[Judi Lynn]

6. Glad to meet fellow spider carriers to the great outdoors, 3catwoman3 and Brother Ivan!

We're old spider carriers from way back. They can't help being spiders, can they? As far as they know, we're in their homes.

Hoping like everything they will find a way to take this greatly abused helpless bear to where she can finally breathe fresh, clean air with absolutely no tormentors anywhere in sight for the rest of her life. She could also use a friend with whom to enjoy her new life, if she should be so lucky.

[3catwoman3]

10. I must confess that flies, mosquitoes, and members...

...of the Hymenoptera do not get the same consideration.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Help! Wasps! Very tricky.

Did discover there are some flying bug critters which can be caught using small tropical fish-catching nets used for transferring aquarium fish from one place to another. They are good for carrying out spiders, too, at arm's length.

If the guest of honor is a moth, or butterfly, a paper towel or something similar can be placed over the opening of the net and they won't escape until they are safely outside and you set'em free.

[Fleurmione]

12. Help save Cholita!

You can donate to help save Cholita here http://www.ad-international.org/CholitaAppealUS

[Judi Lynn]

13. I looked up the organization whose link you posted, Animal Defenders International.

Here is the Wikipedia entry for them:

Animal Defenders International

Animal Defenders International (ADI) is a major international campaigning group, with offices in London, Los Angeles and Bogota, who lobby to protect animals on issues such as animals in entertainment and their use in experiments; worldwide traffic in endangered species; factory farming; pollution and conservation.

The organization has been involved with several international animal rescues, funding both the relocation and rehoming of circus lions, tigers, chimpanzees and other animals and has become a major force for animal protection, succeeding through its undercover investigations in securing legal protection for animals.

Animals in entertainment[edit]

Stop Circus Suffering is ADI’s global campaign against the use of animals in circuses. ADI, through country-specific investigations, has contributed to the passing of animal rights laws, with Bolivia passing a law to ban both wild and domestic animal acts in all circuses;[1] Brazil voting to introduce a similar ban [2] and similar legislation under consideration in Colombia and Peru.

In the UK, ADI is lobbying the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to introduce a ban on the use of “certain non-domesticated animals” in traveling circuses in line with DEFRA's 2006 promise to introduce an Act.[3]

ADI’s investigation into the use of animals in circuses in the UK and Europe in 1998, resulting in the first-ever footage of behind-the-scenes abuse of circus animals, resulted in the prosecution of international animal trainer (and Hollywood animal supplier) Mary Chipperfield, her husband Roger Cawley and their elephant keeper ‘Steve’ Gills. Chipperfield was filmed beating a baby chimpanzee, whilst Cawley and Gills were filmed beating elephants at their headquarters in Hampshire, England. This resulted in the collapse of the UK animal circus industry, and a wholescale move over to human-only circuses. Only a few circuses remained with wild animals.[citation needed]

The Stop Circus Suffering campaign is also active across Europe (Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Norway), and the US.[citation needed]

In 2008, ADI released the findings of an undercover investigation of 9 US circuses, and exposed the beatings of elephants by trainer Mike Swain, at Bailey Brothers Circus. The USDA contacted Swain but took no further action. ADI is pursuing this.[citation needed]

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Defenders_International

Thank you for posting this link here, Fleurmione. Welcome to D.U.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Cholita, An Abused Bear In Peru, Gets A New Home In Colorado

Cholita, An Abused Bear In Peru, Gets A New Home In Colorado
March 30, 2015 3:59 PM ET


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Cholita, an Andean bear, was abused in a circus in Peru and is now in a small zoo. An animal rights group has now received permission to take Cholita to a wildlife sanctuary in Colorado, along with more than 30 former circus lions.

Courtesy of Animal Defenders International
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A badly abused Peruvian bear named Cholita is coming to a sanctuary in Colorado. Animal Defenders International announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expedited the request and she will be on her way next month.

As NPR reported last week, Cholita needed special approval because she is an endangered Andean bear, also known as a spectacled bear, the same kind as Paddington, the fictional bear from children's literature.

Cholita suffered extreme abuse while she was a circus bear. Her claws were removed leaving mangled paws, and her teeth were smashed out to stop her from harming any handlers. She also has lost almost all her hair.

She was removed from the circus about a decade ago and is currently at a small zoo in a remote part of northern Peru.

More:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2015/03/30/396352251/cholita-an-abused-bear-in-peru-gets-a-new-home-in-colorado