INTERNATIONAL ANIMAL RESCUE US

Every year wild bears are illegally caught or trapped by poachers in Armenia. Once captured, many of them end up in small, squalid cages in restaurants and other public entertainment venues as a tourist attraction. Some are kept in bus depots, others are hidden from view in dark cellars. Some of the bears are mentally and physically damaged by the boredom and frustration of their miserable existence behind bars.

The bears in Armenia are Syrian Brown Bears (Ursus arctos syriacus). They are found in the mountainous areas of the country where they forage for fruits, berries and insects in the meadows and forests and hibernate in caves and tree hollows. Their barren prisons are a far cry from their natural home in the forest.

These bears have been incarcerated for years in cramped cages with scarcely any food or water. Their environment meets none of their psychological or physical needs. They have very little space to move around in.

The Great Bear Rescue:

In October 2017 International Animal Rescue launched a new campaign to help these suffering bears. The Great Bear Rescue aims to free them from their suffering and, after thorough veterinary checks and assessment, rehabilitate and eventually release those that are physically and mentally equipped to fend for themselves in the wild. Those that are not viable for release will be given a permanent home in sanctuaries where they will be well cared for, well fed and have the freedom to express natural behavior.

The Great Bear Rescue will require funding for the transport of the rescued bears to their temporary new enclosures, as well as for veterinary treatment, food and ongoing, long-term care of those bears that can’t be released.

Dancing Bears The cruel practice of dancing bears was made illegal in India in 1972. However, in the decades that followed sloth bears were still caught from the wild and beaten and mutilated to force them to dance. A nomadic tribe called the Kalandars used the bears to entertain villagers and tourists who would pay to watch the bear ‘dance’ while in tremendous pain. A red hot poker would be driven through the muzzle of the bear, often a baby, with no aesthetic and a coarse rope would be strung through the wound left behind. The rope would then be tugged and yanked to produce a ‘dance’ and for many bears over the years, this is the only existence they knew. With the help of our partners Wildlife SOS, we have rescued over 620 dancing bears from this cruel trade and in 2009 we rescued the very last one. The sanctuaries in India currently care for 300 bears where we provide a lasting home for them to live out their days in peace.

The slow loris in Indonesia is in serious danger of extinction and the greatest threat to its survival is the illegal trade in wildlife. Its huge brown eyes and soft fur make this small nocturnal primate highly prized as a pet and the victim of an online craze created by videos on YouTube. Thousands of slow lorises are poached from the wild and illegally sold on the street or in animal markets. The slow lorises' teeth are clipped off by the traders to make them easier to handle, resulting in the death of many of them from blood loss or infection before they are sold. Our goal is to return as many slow lorises to the wild as possible. However, many of them have had their teeth cut out and may no longer be able to fend for themselves. Veterinary dental specialists are helping us determine whether these teeth can be repaired or replaced. We provide a permanent home at our center for lorises that can never be released. Our primate rescue center is set in the beautiful rainforest of Ciapus, near Bogor, on the island of Java. The center is the only one in Indonesia to specialize in the rescue and rehabilitation of slow lorises. The center has a fully equipped veterinary clinic, spacious primate socialization enclosures, a public education center, accommodation for volunteers and visitors and a viewing platform for observing the animals. Set apart from the other buildings are quarantine enclosures for new or sick animals. Working closely with universities and scientists, we are also carrying out research into successful rehabilitation and reintroduction programs for slow lorises. A good number of lorises with their teeth intact have been released wearing radio collars and are being closely monitored by the team. We also work closely with local authorities and the police to catch wildlife traffickers and dealers and bring them to court. Education of local communities and better law enforcement are vital if this endangered primate is to stand a chance of survival.

Every year hundreds of howler monkeys and other wild animals in Costa Rica are electrocuted on un-insulated power lines and transformers. Sadly the monkeys don’t know the difference between electrical wires and natural vines and will often travel across wires to get to feeding grounds. This is a particularly serious issue in areas of deforestation where monkeys have no choice but to travel on the wires.

The transformers are extremely dangerous - many parts of them can deliver a deadly jolt of electricity to anything that touches them. Tragically, the monkeys don’t sense the danger until it’s too late. The shock is incredibly painful and causes horrific burns and often muscular spasms so the monkey can’t let go and sometimes even catches fire. Even worse, when a member of the troop cries out in pain, the rest of the troop will rush to help, often leading to several family members being electrocuted and dying.

Most of the howler monkeys that survive electrical burns are infants that were clinging to their mothers when they were electrocuted. The mother absorbs most of the current while the babies suffer burns on their hands, tail and any other body part in direct contact with her.

In January 2017 we announced our commitment to support Refuge for Wildlife in Nosara, Costa Rica by contributing funds and raising awareness of its vital work. The Refuge shares IAR’s commitment to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of injured, displaced and orphaned wildlife.

As well as assisting with the running costs of the Refuge, IAR is looking forward to supporting the further expansion of the release program and the setting up of post-release monitoring.

Macaques are one of the most traded primate species in Indonesian pet markets. However, unlike the slow loris, which is listed as endangered and supposedly protected by national and international laws, there is no legislation to protect pig-tailed and long-tailed macaques from exploitation and abuse. Thousands are caught from the wild and exported to overseas laboratories for research, kept in chains or cramped cages as pets or brutally trained to perform for tourists on the streets and even eaten as a delicacy.

Our work helping macaques in Indonesia has a number of key aims: to improve the lives of individual animals through our rescue, rehabilitation and release program at our primate center in Ciapus, Java; to increase understanding and tolerance of macaques among local communities through education; to raise awareness of the dangers of keeping macaques as pets and the risk of zoonotic diseases; and to campaign to win macaques some legal protection in Indonesia.

Our team rescues macaques which have often spent years in captivity. After rescue, veterinary check-ups and a period in quarantine, their rehabilitation can begin in earnest. This involves working hard to remind these animals that they are wild, since most have spent their lives as pets, away from their own species, consuming human food and behaving in a way that is not normal in the wild. It requires a specific diet and feeding pattern that will make them work for their food – something they must learn if they are to survive.

The next step is to socialize the macaques in the groups they will live in once they are released. This process can take months, even years. Once they form a solid group and are showing wild behaviors, they are ready to be reintroduced.

Education is a vital part of our work in Indonesia to increase people's understanding of their native wildlife and motivate them to respect and protect it. The education team in Ciapus frequently gives talks and presentations to visiting schoolchildren and other local groups. The animals in rehabilitation at the center demonstrate to visitors how primates look and behave if they are given the freedom to live as nature intended.

Rescuing Cats at Home and Abroad

Sterilization is the only humane and effective way of reducing and controlling large populations of stray cats. International Animal Rescue’s vets in India and Indonesia routinely sterilize stray cats at our clinics.

Our aim is to improve the welfare of stray cat populations through sterilization. Large communities of stray cats can be a nuisance to people. The animals themselves also suffer from a lack of food, untreated wounds and injuries leading to infection and even death, as well as countless unwanted kittens born to females that are too weak and malnourished to feed them.

As well as providing a sanctuary for unwanted cats, Catastrophes Cat Rescue’s work with feral cats involves spaying and neutering complete colonies and giving any necessary veterinary treatment. Feral cats are returned to their site of capture if long-term food and shelter can be provided. If not, they remain at Catastrophes for life.

Thousands of migrating birds are illegally shot down as they fly over Malta each year. International Animal Rescue joined the campaign to end this indiscriminate slaughter in 1990 and lobbies at a national and European level for greater bird protection. Max Farrugia, Chairman of International Animal Rescue in Malta, runs a small bird rehabilitation hospital in Valleta. Injured species that he has nursed back to health include honey buzzards, hobbies, kestrels and short eared owls, as well as familiar garden songbirds. Once fully recovered, rescued birds are released back into the wild.