Asiatic Black Bears Readied for Return to the Wild

A young Asiatic black bear at the Center for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (Photos courtesy Wildlife Trust of India)

The bear cubs were hand raised at the Center for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation located in northeast India's Arunachal Pradesh state, which directs orphaned bears through an assisted release program.

This unique project is jointly managed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW, and its partner organization the Wildlife Trust of India, as well as the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department.

Situated on the bank of the Pakke River surrounded by tropical, semi-evergreen forests, it is the only project in India that rehabilitates Asiatic black bears and returns them to the wild.

The center can rehabilitate up to 16 bears at a time. Before the bears are permanently released to the wild they are acclimatized to their future home by release into large but protected zone with plenty of large trees, shrubs and climbers. They roam freely there by day but return at night to sleep in the center.

On Friday, five of the 11 bears at the center took that step. The partial release site, chosen for the additional protection it affords from hunters and predators, is the final stop before the bears are permanently returned to their natural habitat.

"Bears across India are disappearing due to increased poaching and habitat destruction," said A.J. Cady, director of IFAW's Animals in Crisis and Distress program.

"This is a unique and vital program fighting to protect Asia's black bears and we are working very hard to assure its success as a model for all of India," he said.

"The first three years of the project was a learning experience for us. Now that we have standardized the right protocol, we are confident of success in this venture," said N.V.K. Ashraf, director of the Wildlife Trust of India's Wild Rescue program.

"This is the first time that this exercise is being carried out in five bears, simultaneously as a group. In time it will be interesting to know when and how they will start a life of their own, as bears in the wild are solitary by habit," Ashraf said.

The Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation on the west bank of the Pakke River (Photo by Dr. P.S. Easa courtesy WTI)

The Asiatic Black Bear, Ursus thibetanus or Selenarctos thibetanus, is also known as the Tibetan black bear, the Himalayan black bear, or the moon bear. This medium sized, sharp-clawed, black-colored bear has a distinctive white or cream "V" marking on its chest.

The Asiatic Black Bear is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN-World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species. Threats are deforestation and habitat loss, and the bears also are killed by farmers who want to protect their livestock.

Bears are poached for their meat or bile, which is used to prepare traditional medicines. Asiatic black bears are killed by tribal hunters throughout Arunachal Pradesh and often, when a mother is shot or abandons her cubs, hunters catch the bear cubs.

In the past, tribal members often raised the cubs, until the forest department stopped the practice and began sending orphaned cubs to the Itanagar Zoo to live out their lives.

It was not until the establishment of Center for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation in 2002 that the process of rehabilitating and returning bears to the wild was undertaken in India.

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