Hello - some info about comments. My colleagues and I will be on a very busy schedule over the next week so won't be able to answer you straight away, but will try our best to start answering when we get back from Georgia next week. Thanks for your patience!
05/22/2010
05/21/2010
Orphaned bear cubs
Yesterday we had a really interesting talk from a colleague of mine from Romania, Leonardo Bereczky who is running an orphaned bear cub rehabilitation and release centre in the north of the country.
There is so much to say that I recorded a video yesterday and posted it on YouTube.
There around 5000 bears living in the wild in Romania and every year a handful of baby bear cubs are found, sometimes as a result of hunters killing their mother.
In the past these cubs would simply have been put into a cage and kept as tourist attractions but in the last few years the Romanian government has supported Leonardo’s and WSPA’s efforts to protect the bears. We both believe it is better to release the cubs back to the wild whenever possible.
With the support of WSPA I have also worked with one of our Romanian member societies (called ‘Millions of Friends ’) to build a bear sanctuary in the heart of Transylvania, which has enabled the government to confiscate over 50 illegally held captive bears.
These bears will live the rest of their lives in the forested sanctuaries, but any baby bears found should have the chance to be released back into the wild and this is where our work interacts with Leonardo’s. He will be alerted when any baby bears are found that are young enough to go back into the wild.
Leonardo has already successfully released a number of young bears and his fascinating presentation has shown how he tracks their movements once they’ve been released back into the Carpathian Mountains.
He’s even been able to show that the young bears are able to establish their own territory and fend for themselves and it was especially good to see that once released they keep well away from towns and villages.
Another great example of rehab and release of cubs is in Idaho, USA, where WSPA has funded and supported an incredible organisation called Idaho Black Bear Rehab run by Sally Maughan.
Sally has cared for over 200 orphaned American black bear cubs and released them successfully back to the wild.
These cubs are orphaned sometimes through hunting but also because of forest fires, road accidents or even at times when the mother bears abandon them if there is insufficient food available.
You can read more about our Romanian bear sanctuary in a previous blog I ran in 2008.
05/20/2010
Bear Vs Man
On Tuesday evening, two of my colleagues (Iris Mazurek and Neil D’Cruze) who run our human-bear conflict projects and Emre Cen (from our Turkish member society and partner charity, see earlier post) presented on one of the main issues of this conference that is affecting bears worldwide.
Namely, how can man and bear live in harmony?
Presenting alongside them was John Beecham – an important person in the bear conservation world. John is the Chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature human-bear conflict specialist group.
The team’s presentation included a documentary produced by WSPA and presented by WSPA’s wildlife officer Neil D’Cruze, called 'Bear vs. Man; the endless conflict'.
This is a conflict the bears have no control over. They simply get on with their lives and people clash with them.
This is a key issue for this conference and has always affected bears for thousands of years; bears and man have nearly always competed for space and resources.
A good example would be when man destroys forests to plant agricultural crops right next to the bear’s habitat, which the bears think is a great thing!
They come out of their habitat to eat the crops planted right on their doorsteps, but the farmers aren’t quite so happy. They begin to see the bears as pests and that can result in bears being killed.
Another example can be referenced straight out of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh cartoon bear with his beloved pot of honey.
Real bears love honey too and beehive farmers around the world tend to keep their beehives near forest areas. Keeping hives in this way allows bees access to pollen from the forest flowers, but the bears see it as free honey (of course!) and will destroy beehives to get at the energy-rich food. The bears can ruin the farmers’ livelihoods, who then view them with real dislike.
But, WSPA and Doga Dernegi have been working in Turkey to create simple yet innovative solutions that work, making life between bears and beekeepers far more harmonious.
Putting the hives on a platform out of the bears’ reach is a highly effective way of dealing with this particular problem. Read more >>
The last and most common conflict occurs in towns and villages surrounded by forests where bears come out of their wooded areas into the streets to eat food discarded in rubbish bins, a behaviour often referred to as 'bin raiding'.
You may well have seen examples of bear bin raids in documentaries on TV.
All in all, these conflicts mean that the bears can be seen as dangerous pests and sadly in many countries this is resolved by killing the bears.
WSPA has been working on this for the past decade, as we see this as a major threat to bears around the world.
We have produced reports and specialist websites showing methods of preventing these conflicts without resorting to killing bears and I hope that the information we shared at this conference will be useful to other groups and individuals working on the same issue.
Sorry for the long post, but as you can see, I have a lot to say on this particular subject!
The Georgian connection
I’ve noticed a couple of comments about why this conference is being held in Georgia – well, the geographical location is not just a coincidence!
Georgia is considered to be a crossroad between the West and the East and choosing to host here is a symbol of the purpose of this conference; to promote the exchange of information between bear specialists from the West and the East in equal measure.
In doing so they can share information on how to find the best way to establish how many bears are living in the wild, what threats they face and how best to preserve their habitat.
This is exactly what the host organisation, NACRES(Georgian Centre for Biodiversity Conservation and Research) is working on in Georgia.
The IBA normally holds a conference every two years, but the 2008 Georgian-hosted event was dramatically put on hold when the country was suddenly plunged into conflict with Russia that summer.
In a show of solidarity to NACRES, the IBA chose to wait and hold the conference in 2010.
WSPA has a ten-year history of contact with NACRES, when the two organisations worked together to try and find a solution to bear cubs being taken from the wild and being used as pets or tourist attractions in the late nineties.
Unfortunately this issue has still not been fully resolved and bears are still seen in cages around the country, but we hope that by holding this prominent conference in Georgia it will persuade the host government to offer more protection to bears in the wild.
This conference is also giving bear specialists from far and wide the chance to participate in some exciting workshops to discuss the issues of human bear conflicts and an issue WSPA has been heavily involved with – rescued bear care in bear sanctuaries.
05/19/2010
Bears and wildlife tourism
One of yesterday’s talks really stood out for me – a presentation on how wildlife tourism affects bears in the wild. Visiting bears in their natural habitat could actually be detrimental to their behaviour and disturb them.
In North America for example, bears keep well away from people in vast forests, but there is growing concern as the number of tourists encroaching on their habitat is increasing all the time.
Bears are known to be quite shy of people and when tourists are around they can be prevented from enjoying their normal everyday activities, like fishing for salmon from rivers.
At WSPA we are also concerned about the other side of wildlife tourism too.
In some countries, young bears have been caught from the wild and cruelly trained to stand on their hind paws and dance. The nose or muzzle of the bear is pierced and a rope is passed through the initially raw wound, which allows the bear owners to make adult bears ‘dance’ on command when they tug on the rope, causing intense pain.
These ‘dancing bears’ have been used in several countries to gain money from tourists who pay for a souvenir photo of the captive bears, or as travelling entertainment.
Although dancing bears were once common throughout Europe, WSPA helped to eradicate the practice from countries such as Turkey and Greece in the mid 1990s.
This cruel spectacle is still seen today in Pakistan, Nepal and remote corners of India, where Asiatic black bears and sloth bears are still caught from the wild to be used as dancing bears.
Campaigns by WSPA and local animal groups are, however, aiming to see the end of this cruel trade in the next few years. A key part of this project has been providing dancing bear owners with alternative livelihoods or training, to give them a better way to provide for their families.
05/18/2010
Bear sanctuaries
Last night, during the evening session, groups of scientists and experts broke into groups for a workshop designed to discuss the serious issue of how best to manage sanctuaries for rescued bears.
This is something that WSPA understands well, having designed the very first bear sanctuary back in 1992.
We joined forces with a Greek NGO called Arcturos to build the first ever sanctuary for rescued bears in northern Greece.
The sanctuary enclosure was a large area of natural forest surrounded by a large fence and protected by electric wires. This invaluable resource enabled us to rescue bears from illegal or cruel trades – such as bear dancing – and to be released into an enclosed forest area where they can live a reasonably natural life.
In general these damaged animals cannot be released back into the true wild. This is because many of them have broken teeth and claws; some have eye problems and in general have become too accustomed to people. Releasing them into the wild could result in them coming back into contact with people as they search for food.
In the sanctuary environment, bears have vast areas of forest with trees, grass, shrubs and berries to forage for, and fresh water pools to swim in.
Over the last two decades WSPA has helped build bear sanctuaries in Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, India, Pakistan, Thailand and Laos.
Additionally, other groups have also built bear sanctuaries in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bulgaria and Germany.
The workshop here at the IBA last night enabled people from different projects to discuss problems they had come across while managing a sanctuary or rescuing bears.
WSPA actively supports the sharing of information between these types of projects and I personally thought the workshop really highlighted some fantastic work that is being carried out by dedicated people around the world to care for bears in these sanctuaries. Thank you for such an interesting discussion!
How does a scientist track a bear?
Yesterday afternoon, I took part in a compelling session on human bear interactions presented by Dr. Emre Can and a number of other bear specialists from across the globe.
Dr. Emre Can is a Turkish bear expert who advises WSPA and works for one of WSPA’s member societies called Doga Dernegi.
In the meeting we discussed how best to protect the remaining bear populations.
Emre has studied bears throughout Turkey and has the difficult task of assessing how many bears remain by studying their track and also how to help protect bears from being persecuted due to them destroying farm produce in their search for food.
Emre acts like a Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) agent and tracks the bears by looking for paw marks in the earth or a scratch mark from their claws on trees. Even bear fur on trees caught when they scratch their backs on them can provide a valuable clue.
Emre can also get a huge amount of information from studying a bear’s faeces – well, someone has to do it!
Camera traps can also be used. These are set up along known bear routes and areas bears are known to frequent, but you would still need Emre’s CSI bear skills to figure out where to put the cameras.
The cameras are fixed to a tree and work remotely. When a bear (or any wild animal) passes the motion censor, the camera triggers and takes a photo. They even work at night too.
Using all of these methods together, Emre has estimated there are 2000-3000 bears left in the wild in Turkey. These are a species known as European Brown Bears, which I talked about in more detail in my previous post.
05/17/2010
Brown bears
We spent this morning discussing the conservation of the brown bear and looked at the breakdown of brown bear populations across Europe.
Before we get to the Europe-specific stuff though, I thought it would be useful to explain a little about bears in general…
There are eight species of bear living throughout the world, apart from Australia, Africa and Antarctica.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists six of the world’s eight species of bear as vulnerable or endangered and inevitably this sadly means that bears are faced with a wide range of threats to their welfare.
I often get asked why there are no bears in Africa and Antarctica, as there are definite spots around the world where you will just never see a bear, so I have time to shed some light on that!
There used to be bears in parts of northern Africa, but they are believed to have been hunted out of existence during the times of the Roman Empire. The Romans used to capture bears and use them in staged battles in the Roman Coliseums throughout the Mediterranean area.
Research shows that brown bears once lived around the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Libya and there have been claims that bears may still live in remote areas in this region.
Although bear species have dispersed to many regions of the earth, they never managed to reach Australia or Antarctica.
Bears once lived in the north of Africa but there is no evidence they moved into central or southern Africa. Having crossed the land bridges from Asia into North America, they dispersed right through the USA and Canada and also down into South America where today the Spectacled bear is still found in the Andes Mountains areas as far south as Bolivia.
But back to Europe, where the expansion of cities has greatly destroyed their habitat and now in Europe there are only small areas where bears are left.
There are now only around 300 bears left in the forests of Northern Greece, approximately 150 in Spain, and less than 100 in Italy.
France has even less, with an estimated population of less than 20 European brown bears.
This is shocking when compared to the fact that 5000 bears still live in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, where WSPA's sanctuary is situated.
We even used to have bears living in the UK, but the last bear was hunted and killed at least 1000 years ago. A big theme that will be recurring during the conference - as it affects almost all bear conservation and welfare work - is how people can live alongside bear populations further threatening them.
Back to join the conference now. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the spread of different bear populations and species around the world, then here are some resources for you - hope you find them useful.
Download our Bears of the World map, to see where bears live >>
Download our Bears of the World fact sheets, to learn about the eight bear species >>
About this blog
Hi, just a quick update to give you an idea of what this blog is about and who it is for, before I get underway with blog posts this week! As you saw in my first post, I am the WSPA Wildlife Advisor and have worked on many bear projects over the last ten years in particular.
2010 sees the meeting of the scientific body, the International Bear Association for Bear Research and Management (IBA) conference in Georgia and I’m delighted to be attending and represnting WSPA, along with a couple of colleagues – one of whom will be presenting findings from one of our bear projects.
This blog will be for animal/bear lovers and bear experts alike, as well as WSPA supporters and those brand new to the charity are very welcome too - I hope you enjoy reading it.
We got into Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital city last night and the conference starts in earnest today. I’m really excited to be working with, and to have the opportunity to discuss, WSPA’s work with bear experts from around the world, during the week-long Georgia meeting.
A quick bit of background on the IBA – an organisation dedicated to the scientific research of bears. They are biggest global organisation of bear specialists, with over 550 members from 50 countries.
This is the 19th IBA conference on bear research and management and is held every two years, although this conference should have been held last year, but had to be put on hold in the aftermath of the Russia/Georgia clash in August 2008.
The bear specialists will give presentations, hold discussions and show documentaries on a wide variety of issues affecting bears worldwide such as conservation, behaviour, ecology, genetics and habitat use.
Obviously, working for WSPA and the bear welfare issues where we concentrate our resources, my blog will focus on work relating to the welfare of bears in the wild, as well as in captivity and in sanctuaries
Georgia is three hours ahead of the UK, so I have to go to the conference now, will post again a little later on – probably at lunchtime!
05/14/2010
About Victor...
I’m Victor Watkins – Wildlife Advisor for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), who I’ve worked for since the charity was set up 29 years ago.
I have a degree in Zoology from Oxford Brookes University and after completing this, I went straight to work for the International Society for the Protection of Animals (ISPA) which later merged with World Federation for the Protection of Animals (WFPA) to become WSPA in 1981.
I started as a field officer for the Eastern Hemisphere, later becoming the Regional Director. During this time I undertook investigations into a number of animal welfare issues including fur farming in Scandinavia, dog eating in Asia, bullfighting in Europe, humane slaughter in Africa. I also assisted with WSPA’s disaster relief operations to help the animal victims of natural or man-made catastrophes and in 1990 opened a WSPA regional office in Kenya to oversee additional work in Africa.
After witnessing the suffering of bears around the world, I set up WSPA’s Libearty campaign in 1991. The campaign, to protect bears from cruelty in the wild and in captivity, saw us join forces with other groups to lobby governments on the issues facing the world’s bears – bear farming, bear baiting, bears in poor zoo conditions and dancing bears.
Bear protection and conservation projects have been an important part of my work, taking me around the world, to a diverse range of countries including USA, Japan, China, Canada, Ecuador, Colombia, Bulgaria, Borneo, Pakistan and India.
I’ve worked on many bear projects; helping with the resuce of dancing bears, building sanctuaries in Greece and Turkey, undercover investigations into the trade in bear parts in China and Korea and into overcrowded bear parks in Japan and advised on the building of nine bear sanctuaries across the world.
