Balkasar Bear Sanctuary
| Date opened | November 1, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Location |
Balkassar, Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Coordinates | 32°56′23″N 72°40′53″E / 32.939584°N 72.681280°ECoordinates: 32°56′23″N 72°40′53″E / 32.939584°N 72.681280°E |
| Land area | 16 acres (6 ha) |
| No. of animals | 18 |
| No. of species | 2 |
| Website | www |
Balkasar Bear Sanctuary, established in 2010 by Fakhar Abbas of WSPA (now known as World Animal Protection), is an animal sanctuary located in Balkassar, Chakwal District, Punjab, Pakistan. The sanctuary provides a retirement and rehabilitation home, and veterinary care for rescued bears from bear-baiting events. It houses the endangered species of Asian black bears and Himalayan brown bears. Balkasar Bear Sanctuary also has ornithology and herpetalogy research stations.
In 2000, Kund Bear Sanctuary was established by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) through the efforts of Fakhar Abbas, president of WSPA member society Bioresource Research Centre (BRC). The park was a retirement and rehabilitation home to the rescued bears, who could never adapt to life in the wild, because as tame bears they are without teeth. "When our monitoring work officially started in 2003 there were around 300 bears used for baiting. Now, by our recent estimates, there are only around 70 left," said Abbas. With construction planning beginning in 2009, it was in 2010 when the first of many enclosures for a new planned sanctuary in Balkasar was finished. It aimed to provide a more "natural" environment for bears to live.
In late July 2010, heavy flooding resulted in severe damage at Kund Park in Nowshera. As many as 23 bears that were living in the Kund Park sanctuary went lost when the water rose as high as 60 feet (18 m) above river level. By early August 2010, it was reported that Babu, Sohrab and Maylu, three of the Asian black bears that were housed at Kund Park, were rescued from the flooded area and safely transported to a new sanctuary at Balkasar which was still very much under construction. In late 2010, a severely injured female Asian black bear was rescued after she was forced to fight dogs in a bear-baiting event by her owner Fida Hussain. The bear went blind due to her injuries and was kept in quarantine for veterinary care. She was named Chowti, meaning "fourth", and became the fourth resident at the sanctuary.
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