Although Nepal has successful achievements in wildlife conservation, bears are never listed as a conservation priority species. The project team from Biodiversity Conservation Society Nepal (BIOCOSNEPAL) found bear presence in Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) up to 3,582m elevation and a population of 60 individuals in an area of 525 Km2. Villagers reported maximum crop damage by bears, especially maize. In the diet analysis, 84% of fecal samples confined agriculture crops in rainy season. The team also noticed poisoning, snaring, gunshots and killing of bears because of crop damage. Every year, 10-15 local people are injured by Asiatic black bears. The crop damage and human casualties have increased negative perceptions of local communities towards bears in general, which have led to retaliatory killing. Local communities and school students are not aware of bear ecology and behavior. Bears are not listed in the National Wildlife Damage Compensation guideline for the allocation of government support. Efforts are needed to stir up government authorities, community leaders and conservation related organizations to lead bear conservation in Nepal.
The project will engage existing local institutions for bear conservation by organizing substantial conservation education awareness programs, bear conservation workshops and promotions of bear-based tourism in the conflict prone sites of ACA. This project will assure community involvements, local budget leverage and government interventions for bear conservation in Nepal.
The problem of keeping bears in captivity has a two decades-long history in Georgia. The animals are kept predominantly for local and international tourists’ attraction in restaurants, petrol stations, monasteries, along and nearby the central highway that crosses the country horizontally (Batumi-Dedoplistskaro, approx. 800 km). The issue is linked to two major problems: contribution to wild population decline and inhumane treatment of animals. Many organizations (including Bears in Mind, SEED, NACRES, Tbilisi Zoo, some voluntary shelters, government of Georgia etc.) have been dealing with this problem since the collapse of Soviet Union. Remarkable success was achieved through the implementation of different concrete projects; however, the problem still exists (although not to the devastating degrees as it was observed in the 90s) and bears (predominantly cubs) still occur in captivity every spring. Most of them are still kept under deplorable conditions. In parallel, concerned organizations, at this moment, do not have credible monitoring data and it is not exactly known how many bears there are in (illegal) captivity throughout Georgia. Moreover, effective legislation of Georgia prescribes fines to an owner, confiscation of a bear and moving it to a shelter. Nevertheless, the limited capacity of shelters (including the national zoo) in conjunction to the low awareness of the population leads the government (also the judicial system) to be inactive and “close its eyes” to the problem.
Most of the bears in captivity have been registered in a central database. Several surveys on bears in captivity have been initiated over the years, where information about the bears and their owners was collected, following a specially prepared questionnaire. The bears’ owners received advice on improvement of food, living conditions, health and general care for bears. NACRES staff also checked whether the owner had a permit to keep the bear. This was very often not the case. Curiously, the owners did not use the bears to gain money from them. It is thought that the caged bears are kept as a status symbol. In 2007 three poorly kept bears that lived in a closed-down zoo near Tbilisi were taken to the Bear Forest in the Netherlands. This rescue operation generated a lot of nationwide media attention towards the problem, which put the captive bear issue back on the agenda. With the survey data, the next step was to implement the Captive Bear Action Plan. Furthermore, the development of a shelter for confiscated or rescued bears should be developed. Unfortunately, many of our joint efforts have thus far shown little success. Mostly because of the priorities within the government.
Since 2019, Bears in Mind cooperates with SEED in an awareness initiative, hoping to find lasting solutions for the problems related to captive bears in Georgia.
Between 2008-2011, Bears in Mind supported the project “Let’s Meet and Protect Bears- the Symbol of BiH Forests”, coordinated by Dr Nasir Sinanovic from the University of Sarajevo. The overall goal of this project was to create positive awareness and understanding about wild bears amongst the general public. The main problem and challenge is that there was very little scientific data on wild bears in BiH during those years. That’s why Bears in Mind thought it of importance that a pilot study was carried out and data was gathered in a central and specifically designed database. Bears in captivity were also registered in a special section. Various sources of information were used and people approached who were involved in bears somehow (so-called stakeholders): forestry officials, livestock herders, beekeepers, NGOs/GOs, hunters, mountaineer groups, tourist organizations, but also local people living in close proximity to bears. This way a general guesstimation could be made about the size of the population of bears living in BiH. Detailed information about human-bear conflict has also been gathered of bears raiding beehives, orchards and cornfields. The complete database has served as a solid base for brown bear management in BiH.
This Human-Wildlife Conflict focused project was financially supported between 2005-2007. To gain more accurate insight in the true number of bears attacking livestock, several local guides are trained and use horses to reach the villages and interview the farmers. Local guides are used in this project since they know the area and it’s people well which increases the chance of cooperation greatly. 65 local people in 17 different villages have been interviewed in total. Since the year 2000 only 83 incidents have been recorded involving cows. Half of these incidents concerns Andean bears, a third of the cows have disappeared (probably stolen) and the rest involves accidents where cows have slipped and fallen into a ravine of broken a leg in which they had to be euthanized. Bears are responsible for only half of the cow-related incidents. Fortunately farmers are not economically dependent on their cows and often only keep small herds. The total number of recorded incidents is not high and the majority involves cows that were unguarded by their herder. This makes it difficult to collect solid data on these problems.
In Venezuela the collected data is used to build the national management plan for Andean bears. The Andean bear range countries cooperate on various levels to tackle the human-bear conflict issues. It’s important to share insights and information, since the consequences of these conflicts have led to a drastic drop in population numbers in the past 30 years. In Ecuador and Colombia similar projects are being implemented.
The aim of the project is to develop a science-based program of conservation, population health monitoring and human-bear conflicts mitigation for the Kamchatka brown bear. The team supposes that the recent rise of human-bear conflicts resulted from the increased stress level during the past decades due to the high anthropogenic pressure and resource degradation. The project will discover whether there is a correlation between these external factors and the health of the population (including genetic diversity and stress level).
The objectives are:
To investigate genetic structure and genetic diversity of the population,
To estimate the level of cortisol for understanding bears’ reactions to long-term stress due to environmental changes and anthropogenic pressure,
To assess the role of various food categories in the diet of bears during the fattening period and to evaluate whether a linkage exists between stress level and diet of bears,
To compare the current data from hair samples and the same obtained in 2002 – 2005 to reveal the dynamics in population health,
To analyze the current situation in human-bear conflicts (causes, trends and consequences) and to suggest the initial preventive measures based on the pilot study results.
Genetic research shall be done by collecting hair samples to gather DNA material, through hair-trapping stations. These are ‘favorite’ rubbing trees used by the bears to mark their territory with scent. The trees are wrapped in barb-wire, which captures the bears’ hair. Direct behaviour observations are also done, next to mapping the bears’ habitat (e.i. vegetation, terrain, food items, negative human impacts etc.).
Research in Hormozgan In 2009, a project was initiated in cooperation with the Ministry of DoE in the province of Hormozgan, Iran – to map the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus) population and to find out what the main threats to the population were. This was achieved by using camera traps and through interviews with people living in the area. Analysis of the images made an estimation of the size and distribution of the population possible. From the interviews it appeared that the distribution area is larger than researchers first assumed, as local people had also spotted bears in neighbouring areas. It also became clear that the number of human-bear conflicts in the area was considerable.
The researchers now have distribution maps of the bears, they know where many human-bear conflicts take place and have more information about the bear’s ecology and what threatens the species’ existence. This formed a solid basis for the next project which will take a further 10 years to complete! Bashagard has been selected as the pilot study area. In this area there are many bears and many human-bear conflicts and the living standards of the local human population is quite low.
Together with the local people Following analysis of the social, economic and cultural status of the local people, an action plan has been put together in cooperation with various Ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Environment, Education, Culture and Tourism. The objective of the plan is to protect the Asian black bear together with the local people of Bashagard, who will then be able to support their own existence!
Bears in Mind supported the initial years of the project, during which further research into the ecology, biology and distribution in the black bear population will be conducted. This will be done through camera trap images, scats, scrapes and looking for winter dens. In order to reduce human-bear conflict, an experiment was done which allowed local people to buy insurance against any damage done by bears to either lifestock or crops. In addition, an indepth educational programme has been established, which focuses mainly on the role of the bear within the ecosystem and on the possibility that people can coexist with bears. People also learned about overgrazing, erosion, setting up small businesses and establishing a nature area in which they themselves play an important role and which also secures their livelihood.
Partner:
Asiatic Black Bear Project / Earth’s Whisper
The project was focused not only on Amur tiger and Amur leopard conservation, but it has also helped protect other wildlife, such as the Asiatic black bears, brown bears and ungulate species which inhabit the ‘Land of the Leopard’ National Park (LLNP) in Far East Russia. By conducting regular anti-poaching patrols, rangers ensured security and protection of natural habitat that is home to as many as 1,300 plants, including 68 species listed in the Red Data Books of Russia, 329 vertebrates, 32 fish species, 12 reptiles, 65 mammals and 220 bird species. The LLNP serves as an ecological corridor connecting wildlife from Southwest Primorye to neighbouring protected areas in China.
The aim of the project was to conserve biodiversity through intensive anti-poaching activities. The objectives of the project were:
To improve anti-poaching efforts in ‘Land of the Leopard National Park’ with the use of drones;
To protect Amur leopards, tigers and other wildlife from poachers and forest fires.
In the north-eastern region of the country human-bear conflicts occur regularly, especially involving the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus). Local people have little knowledge about bears and try to kill each animal attempting to come close to the villages. Bears are often attracted by corn fields, which are located at the edge of the villages.
Priority should be given to education and creating awareness about the importance of bear protection in Myanmar. The pressure on wild bear populations and their habitat is further increasing. This research is the first of its kind in Myanmar. It will provide vital information which is needed to protect the bear and its habitat in the long run. As soon as more information is available about the frequency of human-bear conflicts as well as the occurrence and distribution of bears in the region, recommendations can be made to local authorities and policy makers. This will be the first step towards a national bear protection plan.
Partner:
University of Veterinary Science – Yezin
In 2012, Bears in Mind started supporting research into the occurrence and distribution of the brown bear in Ghizer district. The Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF) carries out the research in cooperation with the province of Gilgit Baltistan. The data on the bears are gathered by means of camera trapping (recordings made with hidden cameras), by mapping bear tracks such as paw prints, scratching and rub marks, and by collecting fecal samples for DNA testing. Interviews with the local community will hopefully provide more insight into bear-human conflicts and poaching. The commercial trade with China is very appealing to Pakistan and other countries in the Himalayan region, such as Nepal.
The results of the research will be translated into a draft protection plan for brown bears in Ghizer district. In addition, the Snow Leopard Foundation is expanding their nature conservation activities to include these large carnivores. The local people are actively involved in the activities, which foster mutual respect and make protecting the bears a logical step. The results of the research will be published in scientific journals and a science magazine.
In India, habitat fragmentation and destruction is one of the main threats to bears, others being poaching for bile extraction (this has started in India according to a recent report), poaching for meat (rampant in some states) and human/animal conflict within or near the forest.
Public awareness
India is very progressive when it comes to bear education. Bears in Mind has supported the educational work of the local NGO Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO). Their education project reaches schools, zoos and museums. Back in the day, the problems with dancing bears in India are considerable. Several thousands of cubs, usually sloth bears, were been taken from their mothers and trained to be dancing bears. ZOO managed to make people aware of the suffering that is caused by this ancient, yet cruel tradition. Between 2002-2012 teaching packages were made with financial support of Bears in Mind. These packages consisted of all sorts of educational games, t-shirts, stickers and posters. More importantly, information about the way brown bears, sloth bears, Asiatic black bears and Sun bears in India were threatened, was included. India is the only country with four different bear species and it is therefore very important to protect them all.
ZOO Outreach Organization has been working with Bears in Mind for 10 years to improve the welfare of bears in India as well as their conservation in the wild. This has been done entirely with education, starting with a conservation education programme aimed at two groups; the visiting public (or organisations which educate them) and the zoo directors of zoos that have bears in their collection. 6,000 bear packets have been printed and ordered by 59 organisation and 8,000 posters have been printed and ordered by 56 different organizations.
