ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kartick Satyanarayan - Wildlife conservationist
Kartick Satyanarayan works tirelessly to save India’s wild animals from illegal captivity and poaching -- most notably rescuing hundreds of “dancing” bears.

Why you should listen

Known by many in India as the “Bear Man,” Kartick Satyanaran is the co-founder of Wildlife SOS -- a non-profit wildlife conservation organization famous for its campaign to rescue every “dancing” bear in the country. For many years, “dancing” sloth bears were the only livelihood of the Kalandar community, but the practice involves extreme cruelty by modern standards, endangers the bear population and is illegal today. He began the organization with his aunt and fellow animal rights champion Geeta Seshamani in 1995, and since then they have rescued over 550 bears.

Satyanaran began rescuing animals as a child, with a particular tendency to rescue snakes. Although he majored in business management in college, he returned to his early love of animal as a field assistant tracking tigers for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Now, through Wildlife SOS, he runs rescue and rehabilitation centers for India’s sloth bears, elephants, leopards and more, as well as several conservation and forest watch projects.

More profile about the speaker
Kartick Satyanarayan | Speaker | TED.com
TEDIndia 2009

Kartick Satyanarayan: How we rescued the "dancing bears"

Kartick Satyanarayan: Como nós salvamos os ursos "dançantes"

Filmed:
470,045 views

Tradicionalmente, a comunidade Kalandar, na Índia, sobreviveu capturando filhotes de ursos beiçudos e treinando-os para "dançar", sob extrema crueldade. Kartick Satyanarayan conseguiu pôr um fim a essa prática centenária, e assim, descobriu uma lição muito significativa: fazer dos tratadores parte da solução.
- Wildlife conservationist
Kartick Satyanarayan works tirelessly to save India’s wild animals from illegal captivity and poaching -- most notably rescuing hundreds of “dancing” bears. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:17
Hi. For those of you who haven't seen dancing bears,
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Olá. Para aqueles de vocês que nunca viram ursos dançarinos,
00:20
these are the dancing bears.
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Esses são os ursos dançarinos.
00:22
In 1995, we started working on a two-year investigative research project
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Em 1995, começamos a trabalhar em um projeto de pesquisa investigativa de dois anos
00:25
to try and find out what was going on.
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para tentar descobrir o que estava acontecendo.
00:28
Because the sloth bears in the wild were obviously getting depleted
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Porque os ursos beiçudos estavam obviamente sendo extintos da natureza
00:30
because of this.
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por essa razão.
00:32
This is the Qalandar community. They are a marginalized Islamic community
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Essa é a comunidade Kalandar. É uma comunidade islâmica marginalizada
00:36
who live across India,
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que vive na Índia,
00:38
and have been in India since the 13th century.
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e está na Índia desde o século XIII.
00:43
We went about getting evidence of what was going on.
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Nós fomos atrás de provas do que estava acontecendo.
00:46
And this is footage from a hidden camera in a button.
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E essa é uma filmagem feita com uma câmera escondida em um botão.
00:48
And we went in, pretending to be buyers.
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Nós entramos fingindo sermos compradores.
00:50
And we found this right in this very state, in Karnataka.
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E encontramos isso neste mesmo estado, em Karnataka.
00:53
And the bear cubs were being harvested from across the country
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Os filhotes de ursos estavam sendo retirados de todo o país,
00:56
and being sold and traded.
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e eram vendidos e trocados.
00:58
These were being sold for about 2,000 dollars each,
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Esses estavam sendo vendidos por cerca de 2 mil dólares cada,
01:00
and they are used for bear paw soup,
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para serem usados no preparo de sopa de pata de urso,
01:02
and also being trained, later on,
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e também para serem treinados, para mais tarde,
01:04
to become dancing bears like the one you just saw.
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se tornarem ursos dançarinos, como o que vocês acabaram de ver.
01:08
Sadly, the family of Qalandars depended on this bear.
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Infelizmente, a família de Kalandars depende deste urso.
01:12
The couple are barely 18 years old.
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O casal tem apenas 18 anos de idade.
01:15
They already have four children beside them. You can see them.
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Eles já têm quatro filhos ao seu lado. Vocês podem vê-los.
01:18
And the economy of the family and their livelihood depended on those animals.
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E a economia da família e sua sobrevivência depende desses animais.
01:21
So, we had to deal with it in a very practical and sustainable manner.
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Então, nós tivemos que lidar com isso de uma maneira muito prática e sustentável.
01:24
Now, when we started working deeper and digging deeper,
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Quando nós começamos a ir além e mais fundo,
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we found that it's an illegal act.
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nós descobrimos que esse é um ato ilegal.
01:29
These guys could go to jail for up to seven years
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Essas pessoas poderiam ir para a cadeia por até sete anos,
01:32
if they were caught by authorities.
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se pegos pelas autoridades.
01:34
And what they were doing to the bears was really appalling.
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E o que eles estavam fazendo àqueles ursos era realmente cruel.
01:36
It was unacceptable.
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Era inaceitável.
01:39
The mother bears are usually killed.
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As mães ursos são geralmente mortas.
01:41
The cubs, which are taken, are separated.
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Os filhotes, que são capturados, são separados.
01:44
Their teeth are basically bashed out with a metal rod.
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Seus dentes são praticamente esmagados com uma haste de metal.
01:47
And they use a red hot iron needle to make a hole through the muzzle.
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E eles usam uma agulha de ferro em brasa para fazer um furo no focinho.
01:51
Now we had to start changing these people and converting them from using that
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Nós tivemos que começar a mudar essas pessoas e convencê-las a não usar isso
01:55
for a livelihood, to getting something else.
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como meio de sobrevivência, para obter algo mais.
01:57
So, this is Bitu Qalandar, who was our first experiment.
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Esse é Bitu Kalandar, o qual foi nossa primeira experiência.
02:00
And we were so unsure that this would work.
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Nós estávamos tão inseguros se isso funcionaria.
02:02
We weren't sure at all. And we managed to convince him.
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Nós não tínhamos certeza alguma. E nós conseguimos convencê-lo.
02:05
And we said, "Okay, here is some seed fund.
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Dissemos: "Tudo bem, aqui está um capital de investimento, o "seed fund".
02:07
Let's see if you can get something else." And we got the bear surrendered
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Vamos ver se você pode obter algo mais". E nós conseguimos resgatar o urso
02:09
to -- we set up a sanctuary. We have four sanctuaries in India.
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também; nós montamos um santuário. Temos quatro santuários na Índia.
02:12
And now he sells cool drinks, he's by the highway.
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E agora ele vende refrescos na rodovia.
02:15
He has a telephone booth.
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Ele tem uma cabine telefônica.
02:18
And then it started, there was no turning back after that.
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E esse foi o começo, e após isso, não havia mais volta.
02:20
This is Sadua who came and surrendered his bear.
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Esse é Sadua, que veio a nós para entregar seu urso.
02:22
And now he runs a cattle fodder store and a grain store
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Agora ele tem uma loja de forragem para gado e uma loja de grãos
02:26
near Agra.
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perto de Agra.
02:28
Then there was no looking back at all for us.
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E então não havia mesmo mais volta para nós.
02:30
We gave cycle rickshaws.
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Nós demos bici-táxis.
02:32
We set up carpet-weaving units,
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Montamos unidades de tecelagem de tapetes,
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vocational training for the women.
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treinamento vocacional para as mulheres.
02:36
The women were just not allowed to come out of the community
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As mulheres não podiam sair da comunidade
02:38
and work with mainstream society. So, we were able to address that.
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e trabalhar na sociedade. Então nós conseguimos resolver isso.
02:41
Education. The kids never went to school.
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Educação. As crianças nunca estiveram na escola.
02:44
They only had Islamic education, very little of it.
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Elas tiveram apenas educação islâmica, e muito pouco dela.
02:46
And they were never allowed to go to school
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Elas não tinham permissão para ir a escola
02:48
because they were an extra earning hand at home. So we managed to get education.
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porque trabalhavam em casa. Nós conseguimos dar-lhes educação.
02:51
So, we sponsor 600 children education programs today.
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Então, nós patrocinamos 600 programas para educação infantil, atualmente.
02:55
We were able to ensure brighter futures for these people.
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Nós pudemos assegurar um futuro melhor para essas pessoas.
02:57
Of course we also had to get the bears in.
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Claro que nós também tivemos que trazer os ursos.
03:00
This is what happens to the bears when they come in.
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Isso é o que acontece com os ursos quando eles chegam.
03:02
And this is what we turn them into.
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E isso é no que nós os transformamos.
03:04
We have a veterinary facility in our rescue centers.
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Nós temos uma clínica veterinária nos centros de resgate.
03:07
So, basically in 2002 there were
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Em 2002, existiam basicamente
03:09
1,200 dancing bears.
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12.000 ursos dançarinos.
03:11
We rescued over 550 dancing bears.
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Nós resgatamos mais de 550 ursos.
03:14
We've been able to ensure better futures for the people and the bears.
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Conseguimos assegurar um futuro melhor para as pessoas e para os ursos.
03:17
The big news that I want to announce today
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A grande notícia que eu quero anunciar hoje,
03:19
is that next month we will be bringing in
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é que no mês que vem nós traremos
03:22
the very last bear of India,
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o último ursos da Índia
03:25
into our rescue center.
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para nosso centro de resgate.
03:27
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
03:31
And India will no longer have to witness this cruel barbaric practice
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E a Índia não terá mais que testemunhar essa prática bárbara e cruel
03:35
which has been here for centuries.
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que está aqui há séculos.
03:37
And the people can hold their heads up high.
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E as pessoas podem andar de cabeça erguida.
03:39
And the Qalandar people will rise above all this cruel barbaric past
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E a comunidade Kalandar estará acima de todo esse passado bárbaro e cruel
03:42
that they've lived all their lives.
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em que eles viveram até agora.
03:44
And the beautiful bears can of course live in the wild again.
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E os lindos ursos podem viver na natureza de novo.
03:47
And there will be no more removing of these bears.
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E não haverá mais a caça desses ursos.
03:50
And the children, both humans and bear cubs
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E as crianças e os filhotes
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can live peacefully. Thank you.
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poderão viver pacificamente. Obrigado
03:55
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Juliana Tomaz
Reviewed by Rafael Eufrasio

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kartick Satyanarayan - Wildlife conservationist
Kartick Satyanarayan works tirelessly to save India’s wild animals from illegal captivity and poaching -- most notably rescuing hundreds of “dancing” bears.

Why you should listen

Known by many in India as the “Bear Man,” Kartick Satyanaran is the co-founder of Wildlife SOS -- a non-profit wildlife conservation organization famous for its campaign to rescue every “dancing” bear in the country. For many years, “dancing” sloth bears were the only livelihood of the Kalandar community, but the practice involves extreme cruelty by modern standards, endangers the bear population and is illegal today. He began the organization with his aunt and fellow animal rights champion Geeta Seshamani in 1995, and since then they have rescued over 550 bears.

Satyanaran began rescuing animals as a child, with a particular tendency to rescue snakes. Although he majored in business management in college, he returned to his early love of animal as a field assistant tracking tigers for the Wildlife Conservation Society. Now, through Wildlife SOS, he runs rescue and rehabilitation centers for India’s sloth bears, elephants, leopards and more, as well as several conservation and forest watch projects.

More profile about the speaker
Kartick Satyanarayan | Speaker | TED.com