Guide 1
What bear baiting is
A bear is tethered in the middle of a ring and fighting dogs are released at it. A single contest lasts around three minutes, and a bear is often forced through several in one day. Before it ever reaches the ring the animal has been disarmed: its canine teeth are pulled out and its claws are filed down, so it cannot defend itself effectively against the dogs. The events are organised predominantly by local gangsters who own the fighting dogs.
Guide 2
Where the bears come from
The bears are poached from the wild — mostly Asian black bears, the same species also caged for bile elsewhere in Asia, along with Himalayan brown bears. The Asian black bear is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and on CITES Appendix I, so the trade that supplies baiting is illegal on both animal-welfare and wildlife grounds.
Guide 3
It is already illegal — and already declining
Bear baiting has been banned in Pakistan under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act since 1890. The problem has never been the absence of a law; it has been enforcement in rural areas where the events are organised. What has worked is sustained monitoring paired with somewhere for confiscated bears to go. When monitoring work began in 2003 there were roughly 300 bears in the baiting trade; recent estimates put it at around 70.
Guide 4
What effective help looks like
A rescued baiting bear cannot be released: with no canines and filed claws it cannot survive in the wild, so it needs lifetime sanctuary care. That capacity is what the decline was built on — Kund Park opened in 2000, and the Balkasar sanctuary was established in 2010 by the Bioresource Research Centre with the World Society for the Protection of Animals (now World Animal Protection), and holds dozens of former baiting bears. Supporting the organisations that run that sanctuary capacity and monitoring is the effective route. WARN funds partner-led rescue in Pakistan — street dogs in Karachi, at Karachi street dogs appeal — but it does not fund bear-baiting work, and will not ask you to fund a programme it does not run.
Guide 5
Why UK Donors Choose WARN — Transparent Partner Grants
WARN is a registered UK Community Interest Company (Company no. 17298990) and is not a charity, so it cannot claim Gift Aid. The donation case is transparent partner-led welfare where support reaches practical field needs. WARN states upfront that gifts fund WARN's 17-country partner network across South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Africa, Southern Africa and South America programmes through vetted local partners — not WARN-run sanctuaries. Every gift is receipted; give one-off at donate or monthly at monthly giving.
Guide 6
What Your Gift Buys on the Ground
Roughly £15–25 funds one street dog through catch, neuter, rabies vaccination and return in network countries. £100 supports a small clinic day. £500 helps stock quarantine after a trafficking seizure. Monthly gifts let partners plan multi-year CNVR instead of crisis-only response.