If We Don’t Help The Animals—–Who Will?

I believe we as humans have a responsibility to take care of the animals in this world. No, we can’t go out and feed everyone of them but we are the reason they are getting in trouble now for we have taken their homes and their food source. We build subdivisions taking the land and don’t think about how these animals live.

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.

Anatole France

Take bears for example. Did you know that female bears have a territory of  less than 8 square miles and they live and breed in that territory. So, when we take that territory, what do we think will happen to the bears living there?  Of course they are going to be coming around and looking for food. Believe it or not, there is a cycle of life and when we disrupt nature, we are disrupting that cycle.Some of the bear species live only in certain climates and environments and yet we continue to destroy them daily.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Mohandas Gandhi

I truly believe that is why there are so many  natural disasters going on the past few years. We have disrupted nature and nature is letting us know.

There are 8 species of bears around the world. Some are in desperate need of help.

I have been reading about the Andean Bears.  They are such beautiful animals. Take a look at this picture:

Is she not beautiful. Her story is not so beautiful. She is in a rescue rehab place because dogs attacked and the mother was able to get away with one cub but this pretty girl was left behind and the villagers  rescued her. So, she is being raised without a mother.

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

St. Francis of Assisi

Andean bears are in grave danger of being lost to us totally. You can read about them at this link:

http://www.andeanbear.org/

They also have a facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Andean-Bear-Foundation/192210890817490

 No, I am not part of the organization. I just am taken with these bears and their beauty and saddened that their habitat is being destroyed and they soon will have no place to live. All because we do not think about the environment and the animals we are destroying.

Isn’t she precious. This above is Coya Bear. She too has no mother and has been being taken care of in a rehab place so that she could learn how to live in the wild.

This is baby Bubu bear at his first medical check up when he was brought into the rehab place. He too lost his mother.  She was killed. Thanks to people helping by paying $35 for each day of care for Bubu, he now looks like this below and is ready to be put out into the wild.

People are working so hard to save these bears and help them return to the wild where they belong. But, this all takes money. And many are very generous in helping but more and more baby bears are needing medical care and a place to live until they are big enough to be put back in the wild.

Take a look at the link that goes with this picture on the Andean site. This is Colleen bear’s capture to save her. Volunteers come and help and give of their time and talents. It is not some easy quick job. It requires planning and equipment and people willing to put in the work.

Photo by Andean bear foundation. Look at this link and see all that was involved in saving this precious bear:

http://andeanbear.smugmug.com/Other/Colleens-Rescue/1770351_v4kv9H#87876001_pW9W5

We can’t all go to other countries to help save these bears but we can volunteer to help in other ways. Fans of these bears gather at this Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/coya.bear.ecuador

They care so much about these bears that they have fundraiser and parties to  raise money to pay for the daily care of these bears. Right now they are having a naming contest for the bear at the top to give her a name. I have already put in my choice.   You can see the choices on the link above.

And I mentioned volunteers. This is volunteering for work that is nothing like a person thinks of when you say the word volunteer. It is walking over very hard terrain and working in the jungles. These volunteers care deeply about these bears and about saving them and learning about them. Below is a video from the Andean Foundation showing what some of their work is like.

Have you ever felt such passion that you would go trekking through the jungle to help an animal. I wish my legs were working, I would love to. But I can’t. But what I can do is to donate  to this wonderful organization to make up for what we as humans have done to their world. How about you?

There are many ways to donate. You can donate on the page here:

http://www.andeanbear.org/donate.html

You can join their cause, pay with credit card or paypal, send a cheque or you can buy from their gift shop which helps get donations too. They even accept gifts of equipment …new or used.

I  have a Bubu bear mug that I love. I asked my son to buy it for me for my birthday. That is another way to get donations. Ask your friends or family to donate in your name or to buy you something from the gift shop. Take a look at these lovely gifts they have.

http://www.andeanbear.org/gift-store.html

So, feeling any passion of heart about the plight of these bears yet?  I did from the first moment I saw them.

The Animals of the planet are in desperate peril. Without free animal life I believe we will lose the spiritual equivalent of oxygen.

Alice Walker