Interview with Wildlife SOS: For My Children's Book, Ajeet the Sloth Bear

Where did you come up with the idea to do a story about a ‘dancing bear’ in India?

The idea about Ajeet begun when I was still living in London. At that time I didn’t know about Wildlife SOS, but wanted to do something to help these bears. , I drafted the outline of the story but didn’t really do anything with it. Fast forward when I moved to Barbados and came across sloth bears once again on the internet from a Wildlife SOS photo. I then revisited the story, made changes, and here we are.

Why did you decide to tell the story of Ajeet in a children’s book?

It’s a cliché, but children are the future when it comes to animal welfare and conservation, so we need to reach them and storytelling is one way. The thing I needed to do was make a horrific act become palatable for children to read in the form of a story. Ajeet represents all sloth bears and their voices needed to be heard from what I hope is their perspective. He’s a cute bear which children can warm to.

Read the full interview here:

https://wildlifesos.org/ajeet-the-sloth-bear-an-interview-with-author-gail-hunte/

** The first edition of Ajeet is removed from Amazon, with a second edition coming soon.