- A unique bear shelter in Agra has devised a successful programme to rehabilitate performing bears
- Training these dancing bears involves brutal practices and a routine of pain and starvation
- The bears are castrated, their canine teeth knocked off, their claws pulled out, and a rope pulled through their muzzle with a hot iron needle
- At the Agra Bear Rescue Facility (ABRF), the rescued bears' physical wounds are treated along with the accumulated psychological trauma
- They unlearn their performing tricks, and after rehabilitation are released into the wild again. So far, over 130 bears have been rehabilitated.
- The qalandars, most of them from Kosi Kalan, too are rehabilitated. They are given Rs 50,000 each to help them find alternate means of livelihood.