International Animal Rescue

Thanks to a legacy left to IAR founder John Hicks by a close friend and animal lover, International Animal Rescue came into being and was registered as a charity in the UK in 1989, with Alan Knight as Chairman^[6]. The charity began by running a sanctuary in the south west of England for domestic and farm animals until, in 1998, it opened a clinic in Goa, India for stray dogs and cats.

In 1993 IAR was also registered as a charity in Malta ^[7]to tackle the slaughter of migratory birds by hunters.

Once established in India, IAR began building relationships with other groups and individuals working to help suffering animals of all kinds. After meeting Geeta Seshamani and Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founders of Delhi-based Wildlife SOS (WSOS), John and Alan agreed that IAR would support their project to rescue dancing bears from the streets of India. The first step was for IAR to help fund the completion of the first sloth bear sanctuary in India - the Agra Bear Rescue Facility (ABRF)^[8]. The project involved providing the bears’ handlers, who were known as Kalandars, a nomadic tribespeople and some of the poorest people in India, with the means to take up alternative ways of earning a living. They were given seed money to retrain and set up small businesses as shopkeepers, tuktuk drivers or weavers, for example. Kalandar women were also empowered to learn a trade and contribute to the family income, while their children were given the opportunity to attend school and gain an education. It was largely owing to the Kalandar rehabilitation program that the bear rescue project was such a success. In 2009, the coalition of Wildlife SOS, IAR and Free the Bears Foundation in Australia celebrated the rescue of the very last dancing bear off the streets.^[9]

IAR remains committed to helping Wildlife SOS fund the considerable cost of caring for the rescued dancing bears for the rest of their lives.

International Animal Rescue was first registered in Indonesia in 2006 under the local name Yayasan IAR Indonesia (YIARI). Its aim was to come to the aid of primates (initially macaques and slow lorises) and tackle deforestation.  In 2007 YIARI built a rescue and rehabilitation center^[10] on the island of Java for primates rescued from the pet trade and the team was soon busy treating macaques that had been kept chained up or in tiny cages and slow lorises that had suffered the agony of having their teeth clipped to make them easier to handle.

In 2009, YIARI’s program director in Indonesia, vet Karmele Llano Sanchez, was called upon to treat a wound caused by the shackle on a captive orangutan in Pontianak, West Borneo. This led YIARI to undertake the rescue of that orangutan, named JoJo, and a second one known as Jingo. The rescue operation marked the beginning of YIARI’s orangutan rescue and rehabilitation project^{[11] [12][13]}which first operated out of a small, temporary facility in Ketapang, West Borneo. Then, in 2010, YIARI purchased 60 acres of land to build a permanent facility and construction was soon underway.

When it was up and running, caring for numerous orangutans that had been kept as pets or found stranded when their rainforest home was destroyed, the orangutan rehabilitation center was the first facility in Asia to be accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS).^[14] Accreditation means that the center meets the comprehensive and rigorous definition of a true sanctuary/rehabilitation center and is providing humane and responsible care to the orangutans. In June 2014 YIARI’s primate rehabilitation center in West Java joined the orangutan facility in receiving GFAS accreditation.^[15] The accreditation status gives a clear and trusted means for the public, donors and government agencies to recognize the two centers as outstanding facilities.

The El Nino weather event in 2015 caused the destruction of 5000 acres of rainforest surrounding YIARI’s orangutan rehabilitation center in Ketapang and the loss of more than five million acres nationwide. During that year,YIARI’s orangutan protection unit worked round the clock, coming to the aid of 40 orangutans in total.^[16][17]

IAR’s ‘Tickling is Torture’ campaign, also launched in 2015, was designed to expose the inherent cruelty of keeping slow lorises as pets. The campaign would go on to gather 700,000 signatures and reach an audience of more than 150 million people!^[18]

An ambitious tree-planting project that aimed to plant 650,000 trees and reforest an area of land lost in the fires was launched by YIARI in 2016. In the same year,^[19] International Animal Rescue beat thousands of other entrants to win JustGiving’s Charity of the Year for 2016. ^[20]

The following year, IAR began supporting Nosara’s Refuge for Wildlife, to help care for injured and orphaned howler monkeys and other wildlife ^[21]in Costa Rica. ^[22][23]

Also in 2017, with partners the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) IAR launched a campaign to rescue as many as 80 caged bears living in shocking conditions in Armenia.^{[24] [25]}In 2018, with the rescue center in the mountains of Urtsadzor already home to a number of adult bears rescued from captivity, we released two young bears back into the wild after rescuing and rehabilitating them with a minimum of human contact. This was the first time in Armenia that bears had been reintroduced into the wild.^[26][27]

In 2019 International Animal Rescue won another award, this time The Charity Award in the Environment and Conservation category for its reforestation project in Indonesia.^[28] The Charity Awards is the sector’s most highly regarded excellence-recognition scheme.

The Sir Michael Uren Learning Center was inaugurated on 10 July 2019 ^[29]to increase awareness and understanding among the public of the importance to the community of preserving nature and the environment. The center, located at the entrance to the Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in Ketapang,  was named after philanthropist Sir Michael Uren who was a great friend and supporter of IAR and deeply concerned about sustainable development in the environment in Indonesia, particularly Borneo. The center was the first complete learning facility in Kalimantan.

In 2020, alongside local Indonesian authorities, YIARI received an award from the BBVA Foundation in Spain in the category of biodiversity for an “innovative and integrated approach to protecting biodiversity in the Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park (TNBBBR) and several iconic species including orangutans.” The BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation distinguish nature conservation initiatives based on best scientific knowledge and pursuing outcomes of broad and lasting impact.^[30]

November 2023 saw the opening of IAR’s new rescue center in Nosara, Costa Rica. ^[31]Once again, the charity has the Michael Uren Foundation to thank for their generous support for this project. The Sir Michael Uren Wildlife Rescue and Education Center has capacity to house up to 200 residents at a time and, whilst it will allow the team to take in and care for more wildlife, the main focus will be on rehabilitation and release. The education center is an essential part of the facility, enabling the IAR team to educate the community about the threats facing local wildlife and teach them how to build a healthy relationship between people and animals.

International Animal Rescue's patrons are: Peter Egan, Bill Bailey, Jo Brand, Elkie Brooks, Maneka Gandhi, Dr Scott Miller, Dr Roger A Mugford, Trevor Woodman MBE.

The practice of dancing bears was made illegal in India in 1972 but in the decades that followed sloth bears were still poached from the wild and forced to perform for tourists.

In 2002, International Animal Rescue, together with Indian partner organisation Wildlife SOS, opened the first sanctuary for rescued dancing bears near Agra and the Taj Mahal.

In December 2009, International Animal Rescue and Wildlife SOS succeeded in bringing this cruel practice to an end by rescuing Raju, the last dancing bear in India.^{[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40]}

The rescued bears live in a semi-natural environment in sanctuaries in Agra bear rescue facility,^[41][42][43]Agra and Bannerghatta National Park, near Bangalore.

The rehabilitation of the bears' handlers formed an integral part of the project, ensuring they would not revert to bear dancing as a way of earning a living. The Kalandar tribespeople who danced the bears were taught new trades such as rickshaw driving or carpet weaving to help them support their families.

Orangutan Rescue and conservation

In 2013, IAR established the first rescue and rehabilitation centre for orangutans in the province of West Kalimantan, Borneo. The centre is in the village of Sungai Awan (often abbreviated to Sei Awan), roughly 30 minutes’ drive from the town of Ketapang. The site covers 150 hectares and houses rescued orangutans as well as being a base from which all conservation programmes are run.  The centre has allowed the rescue of more than 250 orangutans and offers rehabilitative care which has to date seen more than 160 orangutans returned to protected national parks.

July 2019 saw the opening of The Sir Michael Uren Learning Centre, located on a one-hectare site within the office complex. This centre brings together local communities, the private sector, academic research institutions, as well as government and non-government organisations to build awareness, knowledge and ability through research and education to protect the environment and enable sustainable growth in Ketapang Regency.

Primate rescue and conservation

In 2007 the primate rehabilitation centre was established in the rainforest of Ciapus, near Bogor, on the island of Java. This is the only centre in Indonesia to specialise in the rescue and rehabilitation of slow lorises, providing veterinary and rehabilitative care to victims of the illegal pet trade. In addition to rescue, rehabilitation and release this centre provides offices from which the team campaigns and assists local authorities in efforts to tackle the illegal trade of slow lorises.^[44]

IARconserves

YIARI, International Animal Rescue’s Indonesian partners, run a number of holistic conservation and social initiatives including reforestation, habitat protection, Wildlife protection patrols, organic farming training^[45], the provision of alternate livelihoods and the establishment of The Power of Mama, Indonesians first all female fire fighting force.^[46][47][48]

In October 2017, IAR partnered with Armenian group Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) to free brown bears being kept in captivity across Armenia. The two groups had previously joined together to rescue and rehabilitate three lions in an abandoned zoo in Gyumri.^[49]

The official opening ceremony of the Wildlife Rescue Centre (WRC) in Urtsadzor, Armenia, took place on 15 December 2017. The centre is located within the 20,000 hectares of the Caucasus Wildlife Refuge (CWR), managed by IAR’s partners FPWC and is currently home to 15 rescued bears.^[50][51][52]

In 1998 International Animal Rescue set up a rescue centre called Animal Tracks in the town of Mapusa in the north of Goa, India, to address the welfare issues of the stray dog population. The sterilisation and vaccination programmes dramatically reduced the numbers of strays and, as a result of the anti-rabies vaccinations, cases of rabies in humans were also eliminated in the areas where IAR operates.

International Animal Rescue's veterinary centre in Trichy, Tamil Nadu was established in 2005 by Dr Deike Schacht. The centre's aim was to control and care for the stray dog population with sterilisation and vaccination, and to provide shelter and treatment for sick and injured dogs.

International Animal Rescue's veterinary teams in India and Indonesia routinely sterilise stray cats as a means of reducing and controlling their populations.

Through Catastrophes Cat Rescue, International Animal Rescue gives sanctuary to unwanted cats in the United Kingdom. The cats receive veterinary treatment and are spayedorneutered.

International Animal Rescue joined the campaign to end the illegal shooting of migrating birds in Malta in 1990 and lobbied at a national and European level for greater bird protection while working closely with the police and the Ministry of Environment and Rural Affairs to help animals in need. IAR also provided a 24-hour emergency helpline where inquiries were taken about abandoned animals, illegal bird hunting and trapping, wildlife trafficking and instances of animal cruelty.

For many years International Animal Rescue was involved in the campaign to end illegal hunting in Malta by supporting the work of the wildlife protection unit of the police known as the ALE (Administrative Law Enforcement.) Every spring and autumn IAR would assist the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) at their bird protection camps. Volunteer bird guards recruited from all over the world and trained by CABS are based in Malta to monitor migration and record any illegal shooting or trapping. A control room is set up and staffed day and night and the police are alerted immediately to any illegal activity so that their patrols can respond swiftly and track down the culprits. Conservationists come from all over Europe and some from further afield to take part in the camps and do their bit to stop the senseless slaughter of thousands of birds every year.

• International Animal Rescue global website
• International Animal Rescue Goa, India website
• YouTube channel