Wildlife of Lao PDR: 1999 Status Report - IUCN

Wildlife of Lao PDR: 1999 Status Report
Identifiable remains or captive animals come from several
survey areas with local reports from many more (Table 12).
Historically, the species was reportedly common in the centre
and south (Delacour 1940) and in Xiangkhouang (north;
David-Beaulieu 1944), with a skull coming from the far north
at Ban Laophouchai (Osgood 1932). There is no recent confirmation
of occurrence in north Lao PDR, although a captive
in Louang-Namtha town in 1997 reportedly came from
a local village (Tizard et al. 1997).
Status Information on Bears: There are no field-validated
guidelines incorporating the influence of age, sex and other
factors on size and appearance of bear signs in Indochina.
Signs are thus best regarded as ‘unidentified bear sp.’ (Plate
15). Bear scratch marks can probably persist for years on
tree trunks. Surveys may therefore record signs from individuals
long dead, or from populations now locally extinct.
Marks in the logged lowlands of Dong Hua Sao NBCA
observed in 1993 may in fact all have been made prior to
logging (Duckworth et al. 1994). It was not practicable to
limit records in Table 12 to those of recent signs. Although
bear signs have been recorded widely, populations are low
across the country. Of all areas surveyed by RJTim, only in
Xe Pian NBCA (1992-1993) were fresh signs found frequently.
Villagers report two forms of bear widely (and sometimes
Binturong is also reported as a bear) which outside
questioners often relate to Asiatic Black Bear and Sun Bear.
Detailed questioning suggests this may be rash. In the central
Annamites, villagers often report (as well as a form fitting
Sun Bear) two sorts of ‘Asiatic Black Bear’, which are
said to differ in size and colour of the chest pelage (Robichaud
1998d). This may explain the findings of Duckworth (1996b)
in Sangthong District, where informants reported two sorts
of bears, but stated differences between them were not the
obvious morphological ones between Asiatic Black Bear and
Sun Bear.
Bears are occasional crop pests in Lao PDR and rare livestock
predators (Table 2). Asiatic Black Bears used to maul
people frequently (Fraisse 1955, Deuve and Deuve 1962a).
There are few recent reports of attacks by bears (Table 3),
presumably because populations are now so low. Furthermore,
wide gun use has probably made animals shyer of people.
Both species are kept as pets and in menageries. Gall,
skins and fat are used locally for medicinal purposes (Martin
1992, Salter 1993a, Baird 1995b; Plate 5). Skins are preserved
(Plate 4), probably for sale as curios. The well known trade
in Lao bears and bear parts with China, Thailand and Vietnam
for pets, restaurants and medicine is poorly documented
quantitatively (Mills and Servheen 1990, Srikosamatara et
al. 1992, Baird 1993, Davidson et al. 1997). The east Asian
market is considered in Mills et al. (1995).
Bears are caught by various methods as well as opportunistic
shooting. Steel-cable snares strong enough to hold
even adult Asiatic Black Bears are set in some areas, espe-
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cially near the Vietnam border (Robichaud 1999; Plate 5).
Young are reportedly caught by hand when mothers are
guzzling honey sources (and are apparently oblivious to outside
events), or are shot (I. Johnson verbally 1999, from village
reports).
The relative status of Sun Bear and Asiatic Black Bear is
difficult to judge. All indications are that Asiatic Black Bear
is much the scarcer. None of the few recent field sightings of
bears in Lao PDR was of this species. Only about a fifth of
dozens of bears traded through Bolikhamxai Province over
several years were this species (I. Johnson verbally 1999). It
is apparently the more favoured species in trade (presumably
because it is larger and more powerful). This could
presumably only drive a faster decline through the initial selection
of hunting area: hunters presumably cannot target one
species over the other, and are unlikely to ignore any Sun
Bears they come across, even if they would rather have had
the larger species.
This level of threats and the relative scarcity of recent
field evidence indicate that both species are At Risk in Lao
PDR.
Conservation Management and Research Proposed for
Bears:
• Formulation of a national bear conservation action and
management plan by central government, involving full
participation of provincial / district authorities, protected
area staff and local people’s representatives.
• Development and enforcement of appropriate controls
on hunting and on trade in bears and bear parts.
• Nation-wide ban, with active enforcement, of all snares
and traps strong enough to catch bears.
• Parallel with this, understanding of current status of wild
bears in Lao PDR.
• Specification in all survey reports of the estimated age
of signs, and dimensions of clear footprints, to allow
retrospective identification if possible.
• Establishment of guidelines for identifying bear signs to
species, using measurements taken in Lao PDR from
animals of various ages and sexes of both species.
• Inclusion in survey reports of interview-derived information
with detail on the appearance of each named form,
precisely as described by informants.
• High priority to bear conservation in management plans
of Xe Pian, Nakai-Nam Theun and Nam Ha NBCAs, and
in those of any other areas subsequently found to support
large populations of either species.
• As measures are needed in so many different fields and a
considerable amount of work is needed both to gather
information and to formulate appropriate directed action,
the designation of specific personnel in CPAWM to be
responsible for bear conservation issues seems appropriate.
These people (perhaps two, with the part-time assistance
of a foreign adviser) would develop a national