(IN) Rehabilitating Moon Bears

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071007/asp/7days/story_8405213.asp

A walk on the wild side

Five orphaned bear cubs are getting ready to be released in the wild as

part of a unique bear rehabilitation project in Arunachal Pradesh. *

Ghosh* looks in on the cuddly carnivores

 

*My name is Karbi. I am an eight-month-old Asiatic black bear and I live in

the Pakke Tiger Reserve, near Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. I was rescued

from a villager who had kept me penned and was brought here three months

ago. I think my mother and father are dead. But I don't really miss them.

There is this nice man in the reserve who takes me on long walks deep inside

the jungles of Khari Pong — once in the morning and once in the evening. I

love it then. I love his company. But what I love most is the smell of the

wild, the rustle of the forest floor thick with leaves and grass, and the

distant cry of animals. And guess what? I hear that I will soon be free to

roam the forests on my own. I really can't wait for that day. *

 

If Karbi could talk, he would probably have said something along those

lines. Karbi is one of five orphaned Asiatic black bear cubs that are being

nurtured by wildlife biologist Dr Tamo Dadda at the Pakke Tiger Reserve as

part of a project to rehabilitate wild animals and put them back in their

natural habitat. The five cuddly cubs under Dr Tamo's charge are between two

months and one year old. But although he takes care of them — gives them

their food and guides and protects them on their jungle jaunts — he is also

careful not to allow them to get too attached to him. After all, the goal of

the project is to make the animals self-sufficient and be able to fend for

themselves in the wild.

 

The people at Pakke have got names for their little ursine guests. Apart

from Karbi, there is Teddy Bear, and Borjuri, Deomali, and Bokakhat. The

last three are named after the places they came from. Most of them have been

rescued from villagers who caught them and kept them as pets — often under

miserable conditions. And now, as they grow healthier in the more hospitable

environs of the Pakke reserve, they are also being readied to be set free to

make their home in the wild.

 

The project is bound to warm the hearts of those who have admired the books

and films based on Joy Adamson's lioness, Elsa. But there is much more to a

release project than just opening a box and setting the animals free. Dr

N.V.K. Ashraf, director, Wildlife Trust of India's (WTI) wild rescue

programme, says that this particular project seeks to restock the depleted

population of bears in the wild.

 

The cubs' training programme prepares them for the challenges of life in the

wild. " That includes how to avoid predators, " explains Vivek Menon,

executive director, WTI.

 

The method of walking the bears — what Dr Tamo does with Karbi and the

others — is being used for the first time in India. " It is a unique method

to reintroduce bears in the wild, " says Bipul Chakrabarty, a researcher at

the WTI. " The process helps in the gradual development of their survival

skills and gives them an opportunity to learn foraging as well, " he adds.

The keeper takes the cubs for walks twice daily — in the morning and in the

evening. At night they are kept in an enclosure.

 

The project tries to ensure that there are no behavioural abnormalities in

the bears and a period of six months to one year is allotted for the animals

to get used to their natural habitat. Advanced scientific measures like

micro-chipping and Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) are used to

ascertain the direction of their daily walks. " Sometimes the bears move up

to 40 to 50 metres away from the keeper during the walks, " says Ashraf.

Their diets too are monitored and they are given food similar to that they

are likely to encounter in the wild. Till the age of nine months they are

fed on milk, after which they graduate to a mixed diet of fruits,

vegetables, leaves, tubers and some meat. " When they are about 15 to 18

months old, supplementary feeding is discontinued gradually, " reveals

Ashraf.

 

Inevitably, after being raised in the comforts of captivity, some of them

don't find it easy to get used to the rigours of life in the wild. Some get

conditioned sooner — usually the younger ones are better suited for

rehabilitation — and some others take a longer time to adjust. So while an

eight-month-old Karbi may melt away into the woods with nary a hiccup, cubs

that have spent a long period in captivity may find it difficult to leave

their human anchors and survive on their own.

 

The bear rehabilitation project at Pakke Tiger Reserve began in 2002, when

the district forest officer discovered that villagers were keeping bear cubs

as pets. He approached the WTI to do something to rehabilitate them. " We

agreed to help since we knew that they could be rehabilitated, " says Ashraf.

The bears arrived in 2003 and the Animal Welfare Board of India chipped in

with some funds to help kickstart the initiative. So far, the project has

dealt with 15 Asiatic black bear cubs.

 

The project is making an attempt to address the various issues that are

involved in any release effort of carnivores. Rob Laidlaw, a captive

wildlife expert based in Canada, points out that food acquisition, evading

threats and navigation are some of the skills that captive bears need to

develop to live in the forest. " In North America, American black and brown

bears of all ages have been successfully rehabilitated, " he says.

 

As appealing as it may sound, the Pakke project also has its critics.

Kartick Satyanarayan, a Delhi-based wildlife researcher, feels that captive

bears become too dependent on humans to develop the requisite survival

skills. " On the other hand, if they lose their fear of humans, that can

result in man-animal conflicts and such animals should not be released in

the wild, " he says.

 

The bear release team at Pakke begs to differ. " The gradual change in their

diet, coupled with careful handling procedures and the gradual minimisation

of human contact, bring back the wild traits in bears and make them fit for

survival in the wild, " says Menon.

 

Karbi, who's impatient to embark on his solo adventure in the wild, would

probably nod in agreement.