Walking The Bears.pdf

Table 5.2 Details of the bears released in 2005
The first three bears died between nine to thirty seven
days of their release (Table 5.2). In all these cases, the
mortality sensors warned the tracking team of the
damage caused to the bears. The first two bears (Leela
and Lucky) were killed by hunters in Reserve Forests,
farawayfromKhariPong,thesiteoftheirrelease.Both
bears moved in different directions, with Leela towards
Southeast where human habitations exist and Lucky
towards Northeast where hilly terrains containing
typical black bear habitats are available (Fig 5.3). The
locations from where both their radio-collars were
recovered were taken as their sites of killing. Except for
thetaintsofbloodinthecollarofLucky,notraceofthe
carcass could be found at the release site. Both the
collars were cut into two (possibly using a dao, local
dagger) in order to remove the collar from the neck.
The third bear Liza was predated upon by a leopard
after nine days of its release. The bear had not moved
much, remaining within a square kilometer area from
thesiteofrelease(Fig5.3).Thepredatorwasidentified
as a leopard based on the pugmarks found around the
carcass and the manner in which the carcass had been
devoured. Her partly eaten carcass, along with the
intact radio-collar, was recovered within 24 hours of its
death.Thepostmortemconfirmedthecauseofdeathas
predation and not hunting. Apart from the missing
visceral organs of the thoracic cavity, which were
apparently eaten by the leopard, all other organs
including the gall bladder were intact.
Unlike the third bear Liza released in Tippi Range, the
first two bears wandered long distances soon after
release.WhileLeelacoveredanareaofmorethan25km
in five days to reach the west bank, Leela evidently
moved even faster than the first one, moving day and
nightintheotherdirectiontowardsthehillycountryand
reaching the hill top near Jolly-Lanka area in 16 to 20
days(Table5.3).Noinformationcouldbegatheredasto
how Leela was killed by the people. However,
unconfirmedreportscomingfromJolly-Lankaimplythat
theotherbearLuckywaskilledinself-defencefollowing
aconflictwithcane-collectorsdeepinsidetheforests.
5.4 Site fidelity and post-release
movement
Hard released subadult and adult bears are known to
move long distances before they settle down to
establish a home range of their own. On an average,
released American bears have been known to move 35
kilometers from the release site, the maximum
dispersal distance recorded being over 400 km
(Beecham, 2006). Both the hard-released subadult
bearstraveledlongdistancesmakingitdifficultforthe
monitoring team to track them on a 24-hour basis.
Translocated bears are known to return to their place
of capture even when released in distant places
(Rogers, 1986; Clark et al, 2002). To prevent bears
from homing, it is therefore important to hold the
bears for sometime in an enclosure at the release site.
This can increase site fidelity and reduce this initial
period of excitement and wandering. Studies have
shown that brown bears held in pens for two weeks of
acclimatization prior to release move significantly less
than hard-released bears (Clark, et al 2002).
In-situ acclimatization therefore becomes important,
notonlywhensoft-releasemethodisfollowed,butalso
when the release site is not very far away from the
rehabilitation centre. This in-situ procedure will also
enable the bears to establish a focal point of activity
and remain so for some time until they disperse to
establish territories of their own. The question is, if
acclimatization alone is enough to make a released
bear succeed in establishing itself in the wild.
Boththesoft-releasedbears,releasedaftereightmonths
of gradual acclimatization to their release site, not only
survivedpredationbutalsomanagedtoestablishafocal
pointofactivityoftheirown,independentofeachother.
Supplementary feeding at the enclosure area was
graduallyreducedsincetheirreleaseonthe9thofApril
2007. As evident from the consumption of the
concentrateplacedneartheenclosure,thefrequencyof
the bears’ visit to the enclosure area also decreased