Bear Matters BC

Date: Thursday, 21 September 2006, at 10:12 a.m.

SPIRIT BEAR UNDER IMMEDIATE THREAT AS LOGGING BEGINS

Dear Friends of the Spirit Bear,

It is the e-mail we hoped would never have to be written, but as of this week, despite promises to save the spirit bear, the British Columbia government has permitted one third of the bear’s last intact ecosystem - the Green wilderness - to be logged. And the trees are starting to fall.

(more…)

Conference to hear about N. Shore bear management

(more…)

Some travel agencies touting Arctic tours have been revving up their recent promotions to tourists about the increased likelihood they will spot polar bears in this region where several populations of polar bears live.

According to scientists from NASA and the Canadian Wildlife Service, these increased Arctic polar bear sightings are probably related to retreating sea ice triggered by climate warming and not due to population increases as some may believe. The new research suggests that progressively earlier breakup of the Arctic sea ice, stimulated by climate warming, shortens the spring hunting season for female polar bears in Western Hudson Bay and is likely responsible for the continuing fall in the average weight of these bears. As females become lighter, their ability to reproduce and the survival of their young decline. Also, as the bears become thinner, they are more likely to push into human settlements for food, giving the impression that the population is increasing. The study will be published this week in the September issue of the Journal Arctic [paper abstract available afterwards]

(more…)

By MIKE STARK
Billings Gazette Friday, September 15, 2006

BILLINGS, Mont. — Bear biologists this year spotted a higher-than-
average number of female grizzlies with cubs in and around
Yellowstone National Park.

The annual tally is one of several ways wildlife officials gauge the
overall health of the grizzly population.

In 2005, only 31 females with cubs were counted, the lowest since
1997. This year, 46 were recorded, a few more than the average over
the past 10 years.

(more…)

Two bear cubs, trained about life in the wild by a surrogate human guardian, are now gearing up for their release back in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh, an official monitoring the project said.

‘This method is being used for the first time in India,’ said N.V.K. Ashraf, director of Wildlife Trust of India’s (WTI) wild rescue programme. ‘It will help young animals to acclimatise to their new homes and also give them opportunities to learn foraging skills including avoiding predators. ‘In the past, the rehabilitation personnel used to release the bears in hibernation dens, a technique successfully used in sub-zero climates where bears are used to full hibernation,’ he said. However, as Indian conditions do not match those in Siberia, a change in approach was mulled. By this novel method of using surrogate human mothers, who adapted the cubs to their natural habitat, the two five-month Asiatic black old cubs are slowly learning about life in the wild.

The cubs, found abandoned near a forest, were brought to the Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) in Pakke earlier this year. The CBRC is a premier wildlife care centre in Arunachal Pradesh and a collaborative project of WTI, the forest department and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Since its inception in 2002, the centre has catered to a variety of rare species. They were then inducted into the ‘Walk the Bears’ programme in mid-August held inside the deep forests of Khari Pong in West Kameng district. Their ‘mother’ Deva Musahari takes out the cubs for walks twice daily. They are sheltered in an enclosure for feeding and resting at night.

(more…)

As state and federal biologists determine just how many grizzly bears roam Western Montana, state officials are sorting out how best to make sure the population thrives without creating conflicts. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks recently released a management plan and draft programmatic environmental impact statement for grizzly bears in Western Montana. A series of public hearings kick off this month, offering residents a chance to weigh in on the issue. “This is the time for the public to give us their ideas,” said Arnie Dood, FWP endangered species coordinator. “People can review the plan and then comment on things they like or don’t like.” The grizzly bear was listed as a threatened species in 1975. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing the federal protections now in place over grizzlies in the Yellowstone area. Delisting grizzlies in areas of Western Montana, however, is still several years down the road, according to officials.

But the existing bear management plan, coupled with population studies in the area, put the population on the right track. The plan focuses on grizzly bears — or potential populations — in the Northern Continental Divide, Cabinet-Yaak and Bitterroot ecosystems. The plan looks at grizzly bear populations and habitat in 17 Montana counties. FWP analyzed alternatives for each ecosystem, focusing on different management activities. Management activities ensure human safety, prevent conflicts with livestock and mitigate property damage, according to the FWP. The Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, Montana’s largest grizzly bear habitat, runs north to south from Highway 200 to the Canadian border and east to west from Highway 93 to Highway 89. In the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem the plan proposes keeping existing programs in place. It evaluates existing grizzly bear management programs and finds that most are working. It recognizes the role private-landowners play in supporting grizzly recovery. In the Divide ecosystem, for example, grizzly bears are established well beyond existing “recovery areas.” Ranchers have worked with agencies and organizations to put up electric fences to protect livestock and made other changes to coexist with bears. “We are trying to find ways to fit grizzly bears into the landscape,” Dood said. That means developing management programs that ensure that people and property are not threatened.

(more…)

The bear’s natural habitat is fast diminishing and trails left by loggers open the way for hunters who covet its body parts. This news item has 2 parts about Siew Te Wong project and himself (visit his project website), both parts are from The Star Online (Malaysia).

Bear #102 is a regular visitor at the base camp of Infapro, a forest regeneration project at the Ulu Segama forest in Sabah. Under the cloak of darkness, he would turn over rubbish bins, even break into staff quarters, in search of a meal. His other popular haunt is the field centre of the Danum Valley Conservation Area close by, where he has been caught feasting on canned food and bottled chillie sauce, among other things. The antics of #102, a healthy male Malayan sun bear weighing 56kg, has been closely watched by wildlife researcher Wong Siew Te, who has trapped and radio-collared the animal. Wong named the bear what else but, Infapro. Infapro is testimony to the fact that when civilisation encroaches into the wilds – animals start invading pantries instead of foraging for jungle edibles. Infapro is also “trap-happy”, having been recaptured twice. Bears learn fast. Infapro knows that once trapped, he would not only get food and be released but also gets a special treat, honey, which Wong uses to calm trapped bears. Wong is pursuing a three-year doctorate project on the effects of selective logging on the species and bearded pigs. “By monitoring signals sent out by the radio collars, I can locate and track the bears to find out their habitat and home range, what they eat and what they do the whole day,” says the student of University of Montana, United States.

He captured three bears within a week in September last year but these days, he finds other animals, civet cats, in particular, in the traps. Remote-sensing automatic cameras (or camera traps) reveal three other bears but these have ignored the baits. The other radio-collared bear is #103 or Bruno, a 45kg male. Locating and tracking Bruno has been difficult as he seldom strays from his rugged forested home, unlike Infapro who prefers the easier route – dirt roads. Over two hours’ drive from Lahad Datu, Wong’s project site covers the virgin Danum Valley Conservation Area and the logged Ulu Segama forest reserve next door. From 1998 to 2000, while studying the ecology of sun bears there for his Masters degree, he had radio-collared six bears and gained much insight into the mammal, which is the least studied of the world’s eight bear species. “I call Malayan sun bears the forgotten bear species,” says Wong, 37. “It is Malaysia’s only bear species but get so little attention.”

(more…)

PAUL KEELING
Special to Globe and Mail Update

The B.C. government is going ahead with its plan to permit the
development of privately operated, roofed accommodations in 12
provincial parks, which could include provisions for “major resorts.”
The Environment Ministry’s Park Lodge Strategy, which aims
to “provide park users with a wider range of options,” is likely
intended to capitalize on tourism generated by the 2010 Olympics. It
is clearly incompatible with B.C. Parks’ mission to protect the
province’s natural heritage.

B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner has said that “parks play a
vital role in conservation, but parks are also for people.” This line
is extremely misleading. It conflates the ordinary use of the
term “park,” which refers to city green spaces that have sports
fields, walkways and planted grass, with large protected wilderness
areas containing complex ecosystems that have a high degree of
natural value.

(more…)

Grizzly bear habitat next to the Cheviot Mine is not being protected as ordered by the panel that approved the project, says the Sierra Club. The environmental group is urging the federal and provincial governments to revisit the approval given to the Cheviot Mine, saying that commitments made to protect grizzly bears have not happened. The mine, which has operated for almost two years, was the recent subject of international scrutiny. This summer, the United Nations World Heritage Committee asked Canada to carefully monitor the “state of conservation” in the Rocky Mountain Parks. Canada was specifically directed “to ensure that adverse impacts of the operation of the Cheviot mine on the integrity of the property are minimized and mitigated.” The joint panel that reviewed the project was made up of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. In its 2000 report, the panel said, “First, the panel concluded that it will be possible to mitigate, on a regional basis, the impacts to bear populations. Second, should these mitigation programs not be in place within three years after receipt by Cardinal River Coals of the necessary licences and permits, the panel is prepared to revisit its approval at that time, on the assumption that any impacts to bears in particular would still be reversible.”

The panel strongly recommended that the headwaters of the Cardinal River should be protected to buffer the impact on grizzlies. One possibility would be to incorporate it into the Whitehorse Wildland Park so that more intensive management controls can be placed on recreational and other users of the area, the report said. The mine site was the last large prime habitat area for the grizzly bears in the whole region between the Athabasca and Brazeau Rivers, said Dianne Pachal, director of the Sierra Club’s Alberta WILD program. One of the prime issues is human disturbance of the area, which includes trail access for motorized vehicles. Access can lead to poaching, a serious concern for a population so under threat that the province issued a three-year moratorium on the spring grizzly bear hunt earlier this year. Pachal said the province has not made up the lost grizzly bear habitat and this should trigger a revisit of the company’s approval, particularly since they now have an application before the EUB for the second phase of the mine project.

(more…)

Temporal, Spatial, and Environmental Influences on the Demographics of Grizzly Bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

A recent issue of Wildlife Monographs (Volume 161, Issue 1, January 2006) authored by Schwartz et al. and focusing on Yellowstone grizzly bears appears to be on free access (I downloaded it without any registration). Here is the first part of the abstract: “During the past 2 decades, the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) has increased in numbers and expanded in range. Understanding temporal, environmental, and spatial variables responsible for this change is useful in evaluating what likely influenced grizzly bear demographics in the GYE and where future management efforts might benefit conservation and management. We used recent data from radio-marked bears to estimate reproduction (1983–2002) and survival (1983–2001); these we combined into models to evaluate demographic vigor (lambda [λ]). We explored the influence of an array of individual, temporal, and spatial covariates on demographic vigor”.

Trash pilot project a1so expected to be among final recommendations

By JENNIFER MILLER, Whistler Question, Sept 7, 2006

Whistler’s Black Bear Working Group is recommending that Council appoint a solid waste coordinator and look at a pilot project for bear-proof garbage containers to deal with the challenging issue of waste management, co-chair Sandra Smith told Council on Tuesday (Sept. 5).

The group also suggests that mountain ash trees and Saskatoon berry bushes be removed, and that fruit is picked from crabapple trees, within the Village core. These attractants should be removed from any location where it’s not appropriate to have a bear feeding, such as in front of municipal hall or at the entranceway of a store, said co-chair Sylvia Dolson.

(more…)

In any three-hour period usually at least 10 bears can be foraging a two to four-square kilometre area.

by Michael Allen, Pique Newsmagazine, Sept. 7, 2006

Amy, a 6-year-old pregnant adult female, consumes roughly 1,000 berries per hour (depending on patch size and quality) during the 29th day of berry feeding at high elevation (> 1,400-metres) berry patches throughout the north side of Whistler Mountain. Bear-berry studies have been intensively conducted on Whistler Mountain since 1998. The huckleberry/blueberry crop is now at its peak and the secondary berry Sitka mountain ash is ripening.

Bears are at their mid-point in the berry season, usually getting about 60 days of berry feeding above mid-mountain in a good year. Below mid-mountain (< 1,200-metres) the berry crop was about 60 per cent and above mid-mountain berries have ripened consistently in plots to 90 per cent. It's always the high elevation berry crop that makes or breaks bear behavior and biology in Whistler. Berry patches are more concentrated and productive at higher elevations, allowing bears to maintain an energy efficient foraging strategy.

(more…)

Shotgun-toting guards who scan the Arctic Ocean for white polar bears spent last week looking for a brown mass of fur on the reddening tundra surrounding this Inupiat village. The grizzly, a threat to anglers and backcountry hikers across much of Alaska, isn’t a problem here. Usually. They’re rarely spotted this far north. But two brown-bear sightings recently put some residents on edge and prompted managers at a research area east of the village to evacuate scientists doing fieldwork on the tundra. Polar bears, which top 1,000 pounds, commonly wander through the village of 4,200. But more frightening, many residents say, is the smaller tundra grizzly. It’s more likely to attack, they say.

The brown-bear sightings this month occurred at least seven miles from town. And the bear — it’s probably the same one in both sightings — never approached scientists. But Barrow residents are extra-cautious around grizzlies because they don’t know as much about them, said Glenn Sheehan, executive director of the Barrow Arctic Science Consortium. “That’s what makes them dangerous,” Sheehan said. The federally funded consortium, which provides lodging and field support for scientists studying the Arctic, manages the 7,466-acre research area where the bear was spotted. The consortium wasn’t taking any chances, he said. Last week, as the scientists returned to their fieldwork, sentries with slug-loaded shotguns accompanied them around the clock. And a helicopter crew searched the area from the air. They never found the bear.

(more…)

New Chinese law aimed at curbing tiger trade
Wednesday 6 September 2006 at 10:53 | write a
A new law aimed at combating the illegal wildlife trade in China goes into effect today, which according to WWF and other environmental groups will enhance China’s ability to combat the import and export of endangered wildlife species such as tigers. The new law is aimed at complimenting an already existing domestic ban in China on the trade in tiger parts and derivatives. Since the country’s 1993 ban, tiger bone, for example, has been removed from the list of ingredients in official Chinese pharmacopoeia, all legal manufacturing of medicines containing tiger bone has been stopped, and all stocks of existing medicines containing tiger bone have been locked away under government seal. Reputable traditional Chinese medicine experts support this ban and use substitute ingredients that meet the medical needs of their patients. More from WWF News

Moon Bear Heaven
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-03-21 08:44

Wrestling crocodiles, manhandling deadly snakes and getting close to
some of the world’s most dangerous species are the hallmarks of only
one naturalist.

Steve Irwin gets up close to Rupert who is living out his days in
the “Spoilt Bear” enclosure. A large handsome creature, Rupert is so
psychologically traumatized each time he was released into the
rehabilitation enclosure he kept walking into the electrified
perimeter fence. [photo courtesy of AAF]

It is, of course, Steve “The Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, and it is his
inimitable style that has made him a household name among 200
million viewers in 120 countries worldwide.

(more…)