Conservation of South-East Asia's Bears
Perth Zoo supports the conservation of bears in South-East Asia, including Sun Bears, through its ongoing partnership with the Free The Bears Fund and donations made by the community to the Zoo's fundraising program Wildlife Conservation Action.
Bear Sign Survey Training Course, Cambodia
Perth Zoo provided funding for a Bear Sign Survey Training Course held in Cambodia from 23 to 27 April 2007 - the first stage of a strategic plan to protect Sun Bear populations in the wild. The course, facilitated by Free The Bears and Conservation International, brought together 35 park rangers from all over Cambodia to teach them methods for surveying for the presence of bears in Cambodian forests.
Unlike species such as the tiger, little is known about the habits and status of Sun Bears in the wild. They are one of the least-studied groups of large mammals in south-east Asia. It is hoped that the training will lead to more knowledge about these bears and their life in the wild.
It was the first time this kind of training course had been held in Asia. The training was aimed at providing Cambodian rangers and researchers with the skills to collect valuable information about bears in the wild.
Bears in south-east Asia face an uncertain future in the wild. Large numbers continue to be hunted to supply the demand for their body parts to be used in traditional medicine, and cubs are captured for the pet and restaurant trades.
With large areas of forest still remaining, Cambodia is thought to hold important populations of Asiatic Black Bears and Sun Bears, both of which are considered to be vulnerable according to the World Conservation Union Red List of threatened species.
Three days of the training course were spent in Bokor National Park training the participants in bear sign transect methods, and identification and aging of bear signs. Participants completed 12 short transects and encountered 31 bear signs. From six clawmarks templates were taken and attributed to bear species: four were made by Asiatic Black Bears and two by Sun Bears. The majority of these signs were more than a year old.
There were three, non-exclusive, interpretations about why old signs were predominant: (1) bear abundance was recently reduced by poaching, (2) bears only use the plateau evergreen forest for a limited time each year, perhaps when oaks (the most commonly climbed tree) are ripe, and (3) an artefact of the very small sample area. Correspondingly, the need for large sample areas and numerous transects was emphasised, and for careful interpretation of bear sign data in the context of other information such as food availability and tree phenology, which affect bear feeding behaviour.
Data and knowledge on the current distribution of bears is still limited and in very few places in south-east Asia are bear populations being monitored. Monitoring bears by means of sign transects could provide a first and valuable insight into trends of wild bear populations.
The final report of the bear sign training course is available here for you to download (pdf).
Download Conservation of Cambodia's Bears by Free the Bears Fund Inc (pdf).
Bear Research and Conservation in Cambodia, April 2009
Following on from the bear sign survey training course, the Conservation International (CI) Bear Research team has been working since 2006 to close the information lacuna on the status of bears in Cambodia as well as build local capacity of conservation researchers and government officials and raise awareness of the importance of protecting Cambodian bears - and their habitat - amongst communities who live in areas where bear populations are present and have
the potential to thrive. The Bear Research team, along with collaborative work with government counterparts, has made significant progress towards these goals.
Read the full report here.
CEO and South-East Asia Program Manager for Free The Bears Fund, Matt Hunt, says Conservation International's team have done a great job in filling in gaps in the knowledge of bear biology and ecology in Cambodia. This information will be shared with others and compared with data collected in other South-East Asian countries to determine the impact of illegal hunting and trade on bear populations. The data collected through these surveys also provides a baseline from which we can begin to establish long-term monitoring of bear population trends within Cambodia.