Since 1995, we, the Andean Bear Project have rehabilitated and reintroduced 12 Andean Bears (six males and six females) of different ages in various sites of northern Ecuador. The experience we gained from the preliminary attempts demonstrated that the optimum release sites are enormous isolated areas, far from human contact. For our most recent reintroduction efforts, we embarked upon a number of scouting missions, from which we decided on the ‘Hacienda Yanahurco’ for a suitable release site. Hacienda Yanahurco is situated on the eastern slopes of the Cotopaxi volcano, Napo Province. It consists of 24, 750 hectares of terrain, comprising habitats of cloud forest, upper montane forest and paramo (high altitude grassland). In Yanahurco, there are no communities or villages, and the Hacienda is surrounded by three vast protected national areas: Cotopaxi National Park, Antisana Ecological Reserve, Llanganates National Park. It forms part of the great Condor Bio-reserve.
Within Hacienda Yanahurco, in the past three years we have reintroduced five bears (three females and two males). All reintroduced bears have been released with a radio collar, except one female that was equipped with a GPS collar. All five bears have been monitored from the ground and from the air using light aircraft. The reintroduced bears were named Colleen, Leo, Beto, Celine, and Olguita, after people who have significantly aided the bear project in some or many ways in the past. Of all the liberated bears, only Leo was found searching for food in the only building in the area. Sadly for this reason, Leo was considered a ‘problem bear’ as he showed no fear of humans, and we were forced to return him to captivity, to Baños Zoo. The rest of the liberated bears have adapted well to their new home and walk freely through Yanahurco terrain, causing no conflict with humans.
Beto, a male bear we released in July 2006, has been sighted a number of times pursuing livestock. There is no evidence that he has actually killed a cow for consumption, though we have found signs that there are bears killing and eating livestock in this area. I have personally seen bears attacking cows (see photo 1) and we have come across numerous remains of livestock that have been attacked by bears.
Photo 1. A wild Andean Bear (left) preparing to attack livestock in Yanahurco.
Celine is a female bear released in July 2007. She was the first Andean Bear in history to be equipped with a GPS collar. Sadly, due to a fault of the manufacturer, the collar ceased to work within the first few weeks. According to the manufacturer, there was a design fault that allowed water to enter, affecting the electronics of the collar. For this reason, we know little of Celine, more than that she has caused no problems in the few houses in the region. We have a short video of Celines’ release that you can locate through the following link:
Olguita, is a female bear who was rescued in February of 2007, when she was approximately eight months old. She was being exhibited in a guest house in the outskirts of the city of Archidona, in the Napo Province of the Amazon rainforest. After she was brought back to full health, Olguita was taken to our rehabilitation enclosure in Hacienda Yanahurco (3,400 masl) and subsequently rehabilitated in preparation for a return to the wild during the following year. On the 10th of May this year, following a year of rehabilitation, Olguita was released with a radio collar. We decided not to use a GPS collar due to the problems experienced with Celines’ GPS collar. We will continue to use GPS collars following intense testing in conditions of differing habitat, climate, humidity, and forest density.
Colleen is a female Andean bear that was reintroduced to the wild on the 30th October 2005, when she was approximately three years old. She has now been thriving in her new environment for three years, in which time she has been sighted on two different occasions with cubs. On the 22nd August of this year, an Ecuadorian biologist, Patricio Meza Saltos, who was in the Yanahurco area studying the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus), took a number of photos of Colleen with her cub. One of these shots portrays Colleen valiantly protecting her offspring from an advancing male (See photo 2). These photos are the only ones of their kind and are conclusive proof that our reintroduction program is proving to be very successful and is meeting the set objectives of reinforcing Andean Bear populations in north eastern Ecuador, and giving captive bears a second opportunity of freedom. Observations like these give us great encouragement to continue our hard work, despite our financial difficulties.
Photo 2. ¨Colleen¨ protecting her cub from a male bear.
In 2009, we hope to release a minimum of two male bears. For one of those we are to obtain a GPS/Satellite collar donated by a collar manufacturer in return for demonstrative analysis on this type of collar in humid mountainous regions. Also the funds for the bears’ rehabilitation are to be kindly donated by an anonymous Ecuadorian family.
In the Intag region of north western Ecuador, we have captured and collared 13 wild Andean Bears (7 females and 6 males) since 2001. The two most recent additions to the study are Frida, a female captured and radio collared in April of around 5 years old. She was the first female bear we have captured to have been lactating. Segundito, a male bear of approximately 3 years old, we captured in July this year. He is the first wild bear in the history of the species to have a GPS collar. This collar, and another that we hope to place on another bear very soon, were donated by ZCOG. I would like to thank on behalf of the project for these collars. Although we initially intended to use the GPS collars only on male bears, due to the large distances that they cover over difficult terrain, we are now realizing that it is also vital to use them with female bears that live in isolated regions with difficult access. Using only radio telemetry, it is very difficult to track them in such areas. Consequently, we require more GPS collars to gain more precise data and understand more on the ecology and behaviour of this species.
In the next year, we will continue to rescue, rehabilitate and release orphan bears. We will continue our compensation program, repaying the poorest farmers for damages caused by wild bears to maize fields during the corn season in the Intag region. We will continue also with our initiative of sponsor a truck to enable children from two poor isolated communities to attend high school for the first time. This scheme has been developed to help prevent human-bear conflict and build community support and involvement in the Andean Bear Project’s conservation efforts.
With our wild bear data on their ranges, ecology and behaviour, we aim to create predictive models of the habitat use of bears in order to predict their movements and attempt to prevent conflict scenarios with humans. With this data, we are hoping to construct models of potential conflict areas, advising farmers where it is most beneficial to plant corn or have cattle with minimal problems.
We also have ready for publication a journal on rehabilitation and reintroduction guidelines of Andean bears, to be used in other South American countries. The reason for this is the high number of orphan bear cubs throughout the continent in countries where bear biologists and wildlife handlers don’t have the skills and knowledge to rehabilitate and to return bears to the wild. We are currently waiting for an organization or zoo to fund its publication.
Finally, I would like to thank so much the volunteers from all over the world that have trusted in and aided our project, for their hard work in data collection and financial contribution that has enabled our project to continue functioning and progressing.
Finally, I would like to thank so much the volunteers from all over the world that have trusted in and aided our project, for their hard work in data collection and financial contribution that has enabled our project to continue functioning and progressing.
