Wildlife Protection Authority

The Wildlife Protection Authority is a state agency whose policy against cruelty to dancing bears brings Kano into custody, but the enforcement described in the novel fails to account for the bond between the bear and his handlers. When officials beat the men who care for him, Kano escapes with them, leaving the agency’s intervention to be followed by a covert effort to get the three out of the city.

Mandate and Enforcement

The Authority is named among the state government, Maharashtra police, and Border Security Force as one of the bodies using a photograph of Kano and his two handlers on a wanted poster. The policy behind the operation is intended to stop cruelty to dancing bears. In this instance, however, the handlers are described as devoted to Kano, and their affection for him is mutual; those responsible for enforcing the policy do not know this when they take him into custody.

The account distinguishes the Authority’s stated protective purpose from the actions of two wildlife officers on duty. When the officers become distressed by the handlers’ crying outside the place where Kano is held, they beat the men with batons. Kano sees the assault, breaks out of his enclosure, and escapes with the handlers after they fight back against the officers. The incident therefore shows how enforcement, applied without regard to the particular relationships involved, precipitates the very crisis that follows.

Kano’s Escape and Its Aftermath

After escaping, Kano and the two handlers hide in the slum, in the hut Lin had once used as his home. The Authority’s part in the pursuit is reflected in the wanted poster, which identifies all three as fugitives; the account does not say that Kano killed anyone. Rather, the escape follows his seeing the men beaten, and their flight together underscores the closeness that the original intervention had failed to recognize.

The immediate problem becomes how to move Kano from the slum to Nariman Point, where a truck and driver are waiting to take him and the handlers away. Prabaker asks Lin for help with the plan. The episode leaves the outcome of that proposed journey unstated, but it makes the Authority’s intervention the catalyst for a risky attempt to protect the bear and the people who care for him.