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Project year: 2024

Bear bile has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) due to its high concentration of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) and its potential effectiveness in treating inflammatory conditions and liver diseases. Historically, bile was obtained from wild bears, but due to an unstable supply and growing demand, techniques were developed in the late 20th century to extract bile from live bears. This eventually led to the rise of the bear bile industry in various parts of Asia, including South Korea.

In South Korea, the commercial bear bile industry was promoted by the government starting in 1981, with hundreds of bears imported to expand captive populations. Despite increasing international criticism, the industry flourished throughout the 1990s. Over time, however, awareness campaigns by NGOs and policy reforms led to a gradual decline in the number of bear bile farms and captive bears. By 2022, there were still 322 bears in captivity in South Korea. In January 2022, the Ministry of Environment formally signed an agreement to end the bear bile industry and establish rescue facilities for captive bears.

As of January 1, 2026, the bear bile industry and bile extraction from bears are officially banned. Since then, the South Korean government has invested in rescue facilities, such as the Gurye Bear Rescue Center (for 49 bears) and a planned facility in Seocheon (for 70 bears). However, even with two major rescue centers, it remains extremely difficult to accommodate all the remaining bile bears in South Korea. As of early 2026, nearly 200 bears are still on farms, demonstrating that domestic capacity is insufficient.

For this reason, international rehoming is being considered as part of a broader long-term strategy. While relocating some bears to other countries does not solve the entire problem, it is an essential and practical step to reduce the number of bears in bile farms and promote international cooperation on animal welfare.

For this purpose, Koen Cuyten of Bears in Mind and Prof. DH Jeong of Chungbuk National University in South Korea held a discussion during the IBA Bear Conference in Canada in 2024 about the capacity issues for bile bears in Korea and possible international rehoming options. During this discussion, an initial plan was developed to provide a safe and long-term home for a group of South Korean bile bears in various European countries.

In March 2025, the Bears in Mind team, Prof. DH Jeong, and a delegation from the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) and Dyrenes Beskyttelse (Danish Animal Protection) held a meeting at Knuthenborg Safaripark in Denmark. At this meeting, technical, logistical, and welfare-related challenges were discussed regarding the potential rehoming of a group of 6 to 8 Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) from South Korea, once the ban on keeping bears in farms for their bile came into effect in 2026.

In November 2025, the same coalition—including representatives from Bears in Mind, Knuthenborg Safaripark, Dyrenes Beskyttelse, Prof. DH Jeong, and KAWA—convened again in Seoul to take concrete preparatory steps for the export of six bile bears. During this visit, the group conducted a joint visit to the largest bile bear farm in Dangjin, where nearly 100 bears were living in extremely poor conditions. The coalition also witnessed the rescue of two bears from another farm by the Korea National Park Service. These rescued animals were subsequently transferred to the government-managed rescue facility in Gurye.

Following these visits, the development of a new large bear enclosure in Denmark was significantly accelerated. Bears in Mind continued coordination with Danish partners regarding transport preparations and advice on facility construction, while Prof. DH Jeong and KAWA supported discussions on identifying suitable bears for rehoming. At the same time, preparations were underway with a specialized international air freight carrier to ensure safe and animal-friendly transport conditions.

Over many years, countless individuals and organizations have demonstrated their commitment to solving the issue of captive bears in Korea, and their work continues to this day. We sincerely appreciate their unwavering dedication and hope that all “bile bears” will soon be able to lead a more peaceful and comfortable life—and simply be bears again.

The Sloth bear population is declining across their distribution range due to habitat degradation, habitat loss, and facing conflicts with humans. These threats are expected to accelerate with increasing urbanization and demand for natural resources. Over the past decade, human interference in their habitats has led to a rise in Human-Sloth bear conflict in India.

Community outreach program

Rajasthan, the largest state in India, has limited scientific data on Sloth bears. Existing studies focus mainly on distribution, diet within a single protected area, and local perceptions of the species. These studies highlight the urgent need for further research due to increasing poaching and habitat degradation. This study by the Centre of Excellence for Wildlife and Conservation Studies (CWCS) Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta (BKNM) University, supported by Bears in Mind since 2024, aims to investigate occupancy, genetic variability, and population structure across southern Rajasthan in the known distribution range of Sloth bear with an aim to identify local, landscape and genetic data and also contribute to the IUCN Bear Specialist Group’s project on Asian bears range mapping.

Preliminary findings at the end of 2025 already indicate forest-dependent occupancy patterns and highlight important habitat corridors, requiring conservation attention.

Andean bear conservation can be strengthened by transmitting ecological knowledge that challenges
preconceived negative, and often baseless or misleading notions about the bears. In rural communities children are key actors to receive and share this knowledge. They can bring home new perceptions about Andean bears and influence their families to change their negative, if present, attitudes towards bears. These perceptions are presented and developed in an educational space in rural schools where the Andean bear becomes the main study subject for a group of children. They can learn most of the bear’s nature through creative and playful activities based on records and ecological data obtained in their local area.

This project by Fundacion Humedales, supported by Bears in Mind since 2024, aims to implement Andean Bear schools in four communities close to Mamapacha mountain range, a protected area important for bear conservation in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. As in other places where people are in close contact with bear populations, coexistence can be conflictive. The main goal of the project is to disseminate actual knowledge about the nature and ecology of the Andean bear to children of Mamapacha rural communities and in doing so to reach the adult population and give new perspectives for them to manage the human-bear conflict.

Board game ‘La Senda del Oso’ (The Bear’s Trail) designed for the children in the schools

Across the Western Himalayas, Himalayan Brown Bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) and Himalayan Black Bears (Ursus thibetanus), live in proximity with people. These people, many of whom are from various indigenous and tribal groups, are primarily either transhumant pastoralist (eg. the Bakerwals and Gaddis) or agriculturalist (primarily horticulturalists cultivating fruit like apples). This proximity of bears with people is increasingly being augmented by climate change which is altering cropping patterns and habitat loss. This is leading to increased negative human-bear interactions which include, but aren’t limited to, increased raiding of crops by bears and depredation of livestock. Most of which is met with retaliatory killing of bears. If the financial impacts of livelihood loss by bears isn’t adequately mitigated, the illegal retaliatory killing of bears can also lead to engagement in illegal trade of bear parts.

Besides this, direct poaching of bears for their gall bladder is a huge conservation challenge, but often under the shadow of welfare and bear-human conflict issues. All of these conservation threats to bears are spatially explicit, hence in collaboration with Dr. Hinsley, the team aims to identify spatially-explicit priorities for bear conservation across the Western Indian Himalayas.

Based on this baseline information, the team also aims to operationalize a local champions network in one region to actively work towards human-bear conservation interventions to ensure bear conservation while protecting people’s livelihoods.

Bears in Mind supports the project since 2024.

Only about 17% of the estimated 17,000 km2 of Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) habitat in Nepal is effectively protected. The unprotected Sloth bear populations are largely confined to the forests of the Churia hills. In the eastern part of the Churia range lies the Trijuga forest which was once a stronghold for Sloth bears, but now faces unprecedented threats.

The team of WILD CARE (Wildlife Conservation and Research Endeavour Nepal) has gained extensive knowledge over the past three years in this area, and it revealed high levels of human disturbance, resulting in low bear density, patchy distribution, and intense conflicts, pushing bears to the brink of local extinction. Having obtained baseline data, the challenge now is improving locals’ awareness, perceptions and ability to coexist harmoniously with sloth bears and foster support for conservation.

This project, supported by Bears in Mind since 2024, is developed to address this challenge through (i) extensive awareness campaigns in local communities and schools, (ii) sensitization of local-level decision makers to include the needs of Sloth bears in forest use/management guidelines, and (iii) empowerment of community forest members on Sloth bear monitoring. By bridging the gap between scientific research and community engagement, the project offers hope for the long-term survival of Sloth bears in this critical habitat.

The province of Paucartambo, located in the Cusco region of Peru, has diverse ecosystems such as grasslands and cloud forests that constitute the main habitat of the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus), this species that plays a crucial role in seed dispersal and maintaining ecological balance. However, their survival is threatened by habitat loss, poaching, and interactions with human activities. This province is part of the Manu Biosphere Reserve, so it is important that the local population knows and values the species.

Knowing the situation of the Andean bear in this province, there is a need to have an environmental education project focused on the dissemination of its ecology and conservation. This project, executed by the non-profit Q’alachaqui with financial help from Bears in Mind since 2024, seeks to promote awareness about the importance of protecting the Andean bear and its habitat, through educational activities, interactive workshops and the participation of the local educational community. The target audience of the project is primary level students from educational institutions in the district of Paucartambo, since children recognize the cultural relationship with the species, however, they do not know or understand the impact that the Andean bear plays in the local ecosystems.

The Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) is widely distributed in countries such as Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. In Pakistan, researchers have recorded brown bear populations in 15 localities, with only the Deosai plateau and the Khujarab National park having an increasing population due to conservation efforts. However, other populations are thought to be declining. The Himalayan black bear (Ursus thibetanus) on the other hand, has a restricted distribution in the Himalayan range from Bhutan through Kashmir, Sikkim to Pakistan. In the past, it was present in all mountain areas of northern Pakistan but has faced a sharp decline in the last 40-50 years. There is limited information available about the species.

The study, carried out by a PhD student at the Malakand University and funded by Bears in Mind since 2024, aims to investigate the human-bear interactions, habitat preferences, occupancy patterns, density patterns of bears in the area, population structure, inbreeding, and migration patterns of the bears using genomics. The information generated from this study will be valuable for the conservation of these species and the development of effective management strategies to mitigate human-bear conflicts and conserve the species in their natural habitats.

Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) are one of the umbrella species that play an important role for the ecosystem, and is now considered as Vulnerable as per IUCN. The major reason for the continuous decline in its population is habitat degradation and fragmentation due to human settlements and anthropogenic pressures. This has resulted in loss of genetic exchange and hence functional connectivity. If it continues at the same rate, there will only be groups of isolated populations of Sloth bears with very low genetic diversity and high risk of inbreeding depression, ultimately resulting in extinction.

An earlier study by Thatte et al. (2019) highlighted the negative impact of human settlements and landscape features on Sloth bear functional connectivity. Another study by Dutta et al. (2015) also highlighted the importance of corridors for Sloth bears in Satpura-Maikal Landscape. In this project, the team wishes to investigate genetic diversity, gene flow and population structure in the western part of Maharashtra that will include three protected areas; Melghat Tiger Reserve, Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary and Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary. There has been information to connect these areas through corridors based on movement of tigers, but none of the studies have been carried out to identify the functional connectivity in this region.

This study, co-funded by Bears in Mind and the IBA since 2024, investigates the effect of landscape features on functional connectivity among Sloth bear populations in the Melghat landscape, India.

The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is one of the iconic species in Pakistan, which occupies mountainous ecosystem of the Hindu Raj Mountain Range (HMR) and extirpated from the most of its historic range in Pakistan. The species population is continuously declining and the known distribution range of these bears is shrinking due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The species has faced local extirpations from several valleys in the region. Bears face threats like habitat loss and fragmentation due to the ever growing human population and infrastructure, poaching for trade in body parts, and competition with growing livestock numbers over limited food and poor range land management practices.

Extreme weather conditions, difficult terrain and political unrest make scientific exploration challenging in the habitat of these bears. This means information on the species existence is still either non-existent or anecdotal for a major part of the species range. Lack of information limits the provincial wildlife departments and conservation organizations for appropriate planning and management of the bear population.

This project by the Wildlife Ecology Lab at the University of Haripur, financially supported by Bears in Mind since 2024, aims to fill information gaps, spatiotemporal distribution pattern, population dynamics, negative interactions over livestock losses and crop damages and identification of key conservation areas. The modern data collection and analytical approaches will be adopted to build a scientific database of bears in HMR. Awareness session with communities and capacity building of wildlife staff will also be facilitated during the project activities.

Gut microbial diversity of Asian bears is poorly studied; most studies have been conducted on brown bears and other European and American bear species. The goal of this research project by the Wildlife and Conservation Biology (WCB) Research lab is to study the gut microbial diversity of wild and captive Sloth bears in order to understand and compare microbial diversity.

The scat samples of wild sloth bears will be collected from Jessore wildlife sanctuary, in Gujarat state, which is known for the high density of Sloth bears in India. The samples of captive sloth bears will be collected from various zoos and bear rescue facilities in India. Fresh scats will be collected in a sterile bottle containing normal saline solution, and the microbial isolation will be carried out by conventional microbiological methods. Further identification will be done using Vitek-2 compact, an automated rapid identification system used for microbial identification. Genotypic analysis will be performed using 16s rRNA analysis by Sanger sequencing, followed by data analysis using BLASTN.

Microbiome biology is currently a relatively unexplored subject in conservation biology, but it has immense promise for understanding the effects of habitat degradation and nutrient availability. The findings will help to the zoos worldwide where the Sloth bears are kept and the State Forest Department to understand the health status of wild Sloth bears and their seasonal nutritional requirements.