Bear Necessities: Rescue, Rehabilitation, Sanctuary, and Advocacy
Dr. lisa kemmerer
ISBN: 978-9004328389
Publisher: Brill, 2015
Overview
Bear Necessities: Rescue, Rehabilitation, Sanctuary, and Advocacy is written for anyone interested in preserving nature and protecting animals, including the many people who especially love bears. Through the voices of scholars, grassroots activists, wildlife NGOs, sanctuary founders, veterinarians, and ordinary citizens who advocate for bears, this collection of essays readers follow along with those who pull sun bears from Vietnamese bile farms, track Andean bears in the rugged hills of Ecuador, work to protect Montana’s grizzlies in the courtroom, and gently heal the many wounded bears who live in sanctuaries around the world. Essays expose the magnitude and variety of pressures driving bears toward extinction—from habitat fragmentation and dietary choice to poaching and the international black market—always highlighting the many ways we can help to protect these delightful but dwindling iconic species. From Peru to Pakistan, this book offers hope that we might yet protect and preserve Earth’s delightful but dangerously dwindling bear species through knowledge and understanding that lie at the heart of change.
Book Quotes
“We have captured, caged, and shot bears; we have stolen their lands and forests, their gall bladders, paws, and fur coats. Bears around the world face exploitation, extermination, extirpation, and/or extinction. We have the power to bring change. Apathy, rather than climate change and deforestation, is our most dangerous enemy.”
— Bear Necessities: Rescue, Rehabilitation, Sanctuary, and Advocacy
“After living at the end of a rope for many years—years in which any unwanted behavior was savagely punished—she was visibly distressed by the rope’s removal, unsure what was expected, fearful of what would next befall her. She rocked back and forth in her cage, her eyes expressed resignation, confusion, and outright terror.”
— Bear Necessities: Rescue, Rehabilitation, Sanctuary, and Advocacy
“In a functioning democracy, citizens have a very special power—they can affect policy. Unfortunately, this process is ineffective when citizens are uninformed.After living at the end of a rope for many years—years in which any unwanted behavior was savagely punished—she was visibly distressed by the rope’s removal, unsure what was expected, fearful of what would next befall her. She rocked back and forth in her cage, her eyes expressed resignation, confusion, and outright terror.”
— Bear Necessities: Rescue, Rehabilitation, Sanctuary, and Advocacy
“This anthology has one clear purpose: Heighten awareness regarding the precarious plight of the world’s bears with the explicit hope of helping to bring change. It is my hope that readers—that you—will become part of the change that is necessary if we are to secure a future for bears.”
— Bear Necessities: Rescue, Rehabilitation, Sanctuary, and Advocacy