By Yimou Lee, Fabian Hamacher, Ann Wang and Angie Teo
TAICHUNG, Taiwan (Reuters) – Because the cage holding an endangered Formosan black bear swung open conservationists blasted gunshots and air horns to make sure the frightened younger bear disappeared rapidly into the mountains of central Taiwan, hopefully removed from human contact.
Ziman, a one-and-a-half-year-old bear, had lastly recovered from the amputation of a paw attributable to a hunter’s metal noose and now had a second likelihood in life.
“Please care for him and assist him discover his mother and father safely,” Pihao Payen, the chief of a close-by ethnic Atayal group, mentioned in a prayer as Ziman disappeared from sight.
Sporting a conventional tribal tunic and headgear adorned with animal horns, the 74-year-old chief and an skilled hunter additionally prayed for his ancestors’ assist to maintain Ziman away from traps.
Taiwanese hunters and conservationists are teaming as much as shield the Formosan black bear, with only some hundred estimated nonetheless within the wild, by designing new traps which won’t amputate limbs if they’re by chance caught in a snare.
Whereas bears usually are not a goal for indigenous Taiwanese hunters, individuals in Pihao Payen’s village by chance caught bears twice in recent times when laying traps for prey similar to deer and boars, a conventional apply in indigenous tradition.
Since 2014, 18 bears have been captured in traps, with six discovered useless, in keeping with the non-governmental organisation, the Taiwan Black Bear Conservation Affiliation.
Whereas many of the bears have been launched, some suffered main accidents attributable to old school looking instruments similar to steel snares, which might break bones or sever paws or toes because the bear struggles to interrupt free.
“Metal snares bounce off from the bottom and tighten up their limbs when triggered by animals,” mentioned Liu Li-wen, an animal caretaker who oversaw Ziman’s restoration in a government-run bear shelter within the mountains of Taichung.
“The snares turned tighter and tighter because the animal struggled. When blood circulation stopped, his whole paw turned necrotic,” she mentioned, displaying photos of Ziman’s swollen left paw. Vets needed to lower many of the paw off to avoid wasting the cub’s life after two months of remedy.
“That is why we’re seeing many bears with damaged paws or toes within the wild. It is doubtless that they have been entangled by traps, broke free by themselves and survived,” she mentioned.
NEW SNARES
Indigenous to sub-tropical Taiwan with an iconic V-shaped white mark on the chest, the Formosan black bear is seen as an emblem of Taiwanese identification that champions its various tradition and freedom. Democratic Taiwan was beforehand higher identified internationally as Formosa.
To scale back loss of life or accidents of wildlife, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Company is now urging hunters and farmers to undertake a brand new sort of animal snare designed to solely entice smaller prey and which doesn’t tighten to the purpose of amputation.
Greater than 5,600 such traps have been given to hunters and farmers without cost throughout mountainous Taiwan that’s 60% lined by forest, whereas financial rewards are given to those that report instances of bears caught by traps.
“Due to its small measurement, and since the bear’s palm could be very broad, you see that it (the bear paw) won’t fall in utterly when stepped on like this,” defined Pan Wen-ming, an ethnic Amis hunter and guava farmer in central Taiwan, as he demonstrated easy methods to arrange the brand new entice to Reuters reporters.
“It tries to minimise (bear accidents) whereas letting the elders and hunters of our tribe nonetheless hunt for prey,” he mentioned.
Chen Yen-long, chief of the Wushikeng Analysis Centre bear shelter in Taichung, mentioned some hunters killed snared bears for worry of being prosecuted for trapping a protected animal.
Sadly, Ziman, the cub with the amputated paw, was discovered useless within the central mountains solely weeks after his launch, with authorities unable to find out reason for loss of life.
“This isn’t the tip of the story. We won’t cease what we’re doing,” mentioned Lai Chiao Ling, considered one of Ziman’s caretakers. “A minimum of there are nonetheless bears within the wild for us to avoid wasting.”
(Pictures by Ann Wang; Enhancing by Michael Perry)