Walking The Bears.pdf

initiative of the Deputy Chief Wildlife Warden of the
state Mr. C. Loma, who was earlier the Divisional
Forest Office of Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary where the
centre was finally established in 2003.
1.2. Wildlife Rehabilitation and Bear
rehabilitation: Global scenario
Internationally,WildlifeRehabilitationisanemerging
discipline in the science of wildlife conservation, with
both conservation and welfare issues being intricate
components. The International Wildlife
Rehabilitation Council defines Wildlife Rehabilitation
as the treatment and temporary care of injured,
diseased, and displaced indigenous animals, and the
subsequent release of healthy animals to appropriate
habitats in the wild.
The fact that bears are not social animals leading a
solitary life makes them ideal candidates for
rehabilitation (Maughan, 2004).Bear rehabilitation is a
majorconservationandanimalwelfareactivitypracticed
throughout the world. Bears have been successfully
rehabilitated and released back to the wild in many
countries. Some of the well-known examples include
brown bears and Asiatic black in Russia (Pazhetnov et.
al., 1999; Phoenix, 2005), American black bears in
North America (Wasserman and Clumpner, 1995;
Carney and Vaughan, 1997), spectacled bears in South
America (Black, 1996; Peyton and Plenge, 2005) and
sun bears in Borneo (Fredriksson, 2005).
1.3. Case for rehabilitating Asiatic
black bears in India
1. According to IUCN/SSC, all bear species have
declined in numbers and distribution due to the
impacts of human activities. Major human
activities that impactbears adversely are habitat
destruction due to conversion of forest to
agriculture,humanencroachmentonforestland
and excessive forest harvest.
2. There is evidence of killing of bears in
northeast India, for meat and the sale of body
parts in medicinal preparations. Bear cubs are
also captured whenever they are encountered
and possibly also traded in the national and
international market. In Arunachal Pradesh
alone, four bear cubs were confiscated in the
year 2001-2002, adding to the already existing
nine individuals in Itanagar zoo. The zoo
continued to receive bear cubs that were
resigned to captivity in cramped enclosures
comprising their welfare. Wildlife Trust of
India realized the possibility of putting an end
to this misery of lifetime confinement by
initiating a rehabilitation project and a
subsequent awareness campaign that would in
the long run stop people from hunting bears.
3. IUCN reports that bear populations at greatest
risk include Asiatic black bear, sun bear, giant
panda, sloth bear, brown bears of Mongolia
Tibet,FranceSpainandItalyandthespectacled
bear of Venezuela, Columbia and the Desert
population in Peru. (Servheen et al 1998).
4. Besides releasing bears back to the wild, one of
the major impacts of rehabilitation projects is
that the efforts to release rescued bears often
creates awareness amongst the locals on the
plightofthespecies.Inthelongrun,thiswould
help in the promotion of conservation of bears
in the wild.
1.4 The Idea is born
The state of Arunachal Pradesh is ideally placed to
rehabilitatedisplacedbearstothewildasitstillretains
vast tracts of undisturbed forests which are essential
for any rehabilitation operation.
The Kameng Elephant Reserve which covers both
Pakke and Eagle Nest WLS covers a total area about
1892 km2 has altitudes that range from 334 mtrs to
3213 mtrs above msl (Abo, 2002). The climate and
rainfall are important factors determining the unique
statusofthelandscapeandbasedonthesetwofactors
the year can be divided into four seasons: (1) Winter
(December to February), (2) Pre-monsoon (March to
May), (3) Monsoon (June to September) and (4) Postmonsoon
(October to November) (Borthakur, 1986).
The distribution of rainfall is uneven (approximately
2500 mm; in 1991, 3056mm rainfall was recorded at
Seijosa of Pakke) and the month of June and July are
the wettest. The lower portion of the reserve has high
temperature during summer and moderate in winter.
Butthehighaltitudeareasareverycoldduringwinter
and the temperature goes below 00 C. The higher
areasreceiveheavysnowfallduringwinter(December,
January and February) and dew in the night is a
common feature throughout the year. The humidity
ranges from 40 to 85% (Abo, 2002) and the landscape
isdrainedbyseveralnallah,streamsandrivers.Pakke,
Kameng, Khari, Nameri, Tipi, Pani, Pinjoli, Dunukho,
Diji, Sessa are the important rivers and nallahs of the
area. The important tribes of this part are Akas, Mijis
and Nyishis. Nyishi are one of the largest groups of
people inhabiting the area. The villagers traditionally
are agriculturists. Other sources of livelihood are
negligible. Land around the human habitation is
neither rich nor easy to cultivate due to its tough
terrain and only a few places which are accessible are
cultivated for the subsistence. Literacy level is very
low and only few people are employed in government
jobs. Hence, the dependency of most of the people is
on forest (Fuentes et al., 1989) for their day to day
requirements.
(a) Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary
The Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary (260 55’ to 270 15’ E;
920 35’ to 930 10’ N) is under the administrative
control of the Seijosa Wildlife Division. It covers an
area of 861.95 km2, which is composed of 20% of the
East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The park