Playful images of dancing bears may be reminders of cartoons and coloring books.

But tonight, one University organization will host Wildlife SOS, an Indian nonprofit organization that says bear dancing is animal cruelty.

From the moment a sloth bear cub is born in India, it may be destined to a full-time job of dancing for money.

“In order to stop a practice like this that is so deeply ingrained in a culture, it must be discussed, and it must be replaced with alternatives,” said Carrie Mumah, publicity coordinator for Speak Out For Species.

Speak Out For Species will host a “Dancing Bears of India” lecture tonight at 7:30.

The practice of “bear dancing” dates back to the 13th century when the Qalandars, a nomadic gypsy tribe, used the animals to entertain emperors, and later, the general public.

The bear cubs are captured in the wild and sold to tribes, where they are soon prepared for display on the streets.

At six months, a heated iron needle is driven through their muzzle without anesthesia, and a rope is pulled through the sensitive wound.

The bears then are trained through starvation and pain techniques to “dance” on command with the swift pull of a rope, entertaining passersby on the streets, and providing profits for the Qalandar tribes, according to the Wildlife SOS Web site.

Male bears often are castrated without anesthetics, and canine teeth are removed at one year to make the bears appear less frightening to the public.

Many of these bears are blind from malnutrition, and most will die from tuberculosis or severe infections from a muzzle wound that never healed.

According to Wildlife SOS, a group who has rescued and rehabilitated about 380 bears, roughly 800 bears are involved in the activity today, despite its ban years ago through the Wildlife Protection Act.

“It’s very hard to tell people who have been doing something for however many hundreds of years that their traditions are wrong,” said Claire Rice, a junior from Decatur and Speak Out For Species president.

Hope still remains for the bears through groups such as Wildlife SOS.

The organization convinces tribe members to give up their animals, and as incentive, provides education and job training for those who relied on the bears for income.

Representatives from Wildlife SOS will speak at the lecture tonight.