The Andean Bear Project as seen through the eyes of a Volunteer

My three friends and I joined the Andean Bear Project on the 2nd July 2007 for the duration of a month. We were overjoyed to be located a short distance from the very small and beautiful village of Pucara. The local people were very friendly and welcoming and we volunteers spent some nights playing volleyball and socialising here.

Our accommodation, although simple, was made to feel very homely by Celia our resident cook/cleaner and her adorable children.

We spent the majority of our week days trekking and hiking through the beautifully breathtaking Cloud Rain Forest.

Our guide Alberto (who is one of the kindest people I have ever met), taught us how to use the radio telemetry equipment and gain valuable triangulation techniques. Alberto was also able to show us how the local people used the many different types of flora and fauna for both medicinal and survival purposes, and also provided us with fascinating information on the history of the area and its people.

Listening to the bears along the trails at different stations was very exciting and we came to within 25m of one of the bears, Fiona, but were unable to see her due to the dense vegetation of the forest- nature at its very best!

During a three day camping expedition organised by the project we visited the striking Lagoon Piñan. I have never seen such an untouched part of the world, and without doubt a truly amazing experience- and one not to be missed.

The Andean Bear Project relies exclusively on the money received by its volunteers to cover the bear necessities such as radio GPS collars, rehabilitation, and release costs and at the same time providing local people such as Celia and Alberto with the means to make a living and provide for their families.

Without a constant supply of volunteers this project will sease to exist and the Andean Bears Future whilst uncertain at present will become even more jeopardised in the years to come- no volunteers = no project.

So if you have a love for animals, conservation, and the outdoors you need to look no further for that volunteer position of a lifetime!

With kind thanks to:

Armando & Dolores
Alberto
Celia
Samuel
Juan

: For one of the best experiences of my life.

Lisa Felton 24, UK

First Andean bear tagged with GPS collar

By: Lorena Fernández

It had taken Celine three months to adapt to the páramo -- Ecuadorian high grasslands at over 10,000 feet altitude. She was a young Andean Bear – almost an adult – when Armando Castellanos, director of the Andean Bear Project and brought her to the skirts of the Cotopaxi volcano where she would be released to live in the wild for the first time since she was captured as a cub.

"We cannot wait any longer," Armando said, standing outside her rehabilitation enclosure at the Hacienda Yanahurco on the morning of July 18th. Armando was waiting with veterinarian Leonardo Arias, the financial sponsors of Celine's release, and an Australian camera crew who planned to make the event the pilot a new show called "Extinction Sucks" for a helicopter that was supposed to arrive move Celine about twenty kilometers from the rehabilitation cage for release. Celine had learned how to find and eat all the foods she would encounter in the wild. She knew how to split open the “suro” bamboo to scrape out the edible soft white pulp inside. She recognized the protein available in grubs and worms. She could find the edible bromelias that grew in the branches of the tress in the neighboring forest, and could fill up on the shrubs that were so common on the otherwise barren paramo. She was 110 pounds, healthy, and ready to go.

As minutes passed, then an hour, with no sign of the helicopter, Armando paced. “We need to release her now,” he said. Having reintroduced 15 Andean (Spectacled) bears into the wild, he is familiar with the bell-curve process of adaptation the bears go through. If they are not released on time their chances of survival drop -- they get used to being fed and their instincts dull.

It finally became clear that the helicopter was not going to make it to Yanahurco. Armando and Leonardo conferred, going over options. They could wait and hope for better weather, but the helicopter might not be available by the time the weather cleared up. The alternative was to take her by horseback. This had been done successfully in the past, however, there was an element of risk in keeping the bear has to be tranquilized while she is being moved. Wild bears sometimes respond to drugs in unpredictable ways, and sometimes even die under the tranquilizer. The longer they keep her tranquilized the more dangerous it is for her, and it would take hours to move her by horseback to a remote enough area.

Armando and Leonardo weighed the risks of waiting against the risks of tranquilizer her for hours. Finally they decided they had to move her without any further delay. They improvised a cot made of blankets and poles, which they mounted on a horse. They blindfolded Celine while Leonardo injected her with a mixture of Ketamine and Xylacine, and tied her on the stretcher.

The group of 15 riders began their journey through the mountains, Dr. Arias monitoring Celine, giving her a total of four injections throughout the three hour ride to keep her asleep.

Once inside the highlands' forest on the edge of the paramo, Armando and his group carried Celine to a shaded spot and waited for her to regain consciousness. Smiling faces gathered around the drugged bear as everyone passed camera around and posed, waiting for her to wake up.

Celine moaned away what Leonardo figured was a pretty bad headache. Once she was lucid enough to walk into the forest, the group got back on the horses and said good bye.

Celine has a GPS collar hanging around her neck, which will track her level of activity, motion, temperature and location for two years, giving Armando data so he can further the understanding of Andean bears. After collecting two years of data, Armando will activate a remote release, causing the collar will fall off Celine he can recover it and use it on other animals.

Considering the last female bear released in Yanahurco adapted completely to its new home and has even been seen with a cub, both Armando and Leonardo expect Celine to find Yanahurco a suitable home.