PRESS RELEASE

Black Diamond Coffee presents a benefit concert to support International Animal Rescue.

SHREWSBURY- Black Diamond Coffee will host a night of music and photography from 7-10 on Friday October 12 at 307 Grafton Street in Shrewsbury. Admission is free.

Black Diamond will be displaying Laurence’s Van Atten’s photographs of India. All proceeds from the sale of the photographs will go to the International Anima Resuce bear sanctuaries. The night will feature live acoustic music by Paul Gannon and Paul Minnich. There will be a raffle and IAR merchandise will be on sale.

EDITORS’ NOTES

International Animal Rescue (IAR) is dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of suffering animals worldwide. Proceeds of the photographs will go toward the expansion of the bear sanctuary in India, a safe haven for rescued Dancing bears.

The tradition of the dancing bears goes back to the 16th century to a time when sloth bears were used to entertain Mughal emperors at the Taj Mahal. Sloth bears are listed as an endangered species making it illegal to kill, capture or sell the bears. Nevertheless, an estimated 600 sloth bears are still being ‘danced’ on the streets of India today.

Each year, at least 100 cubs are illegally captured from the wild to be sold on the black market. The cub’s teeth are knocked out by force of an iron bar and their claws are pulled, rendering them defenseless. A hole is then made through the bear’s muzzle using a red-hot poker. A rope is passed through the nostril and out of the hole before the bear undergoes the painful training process.

The Indian Parliament outlawed ‘dancing’ bears in 1972, although officials did not have a place to house the confiscated bears. With their teeth and claws removed they could not be returned to the wild, as they would be unable to eat properly, dig, climb or defend themselves. To date, more than 390 bears have been rescued and are now cared for at several facilities in India funded by IAR and managed by Indian charity Wildlife SOS.

For more information, please contact:
Laurence Van Atten,
Phone: (508)826-1083
Email: vanatten@yahoo.com; Laurence@iar-us.org
Web: http://www.iar-us.org/