Pakke, Arunachal Pradesh, 25 February 2016: A three month old Asiatic black bear cub, rescued by village youth, was handed over to the IFAW- WTI run Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) by the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department early this week. The cub arrived at CBRC almost three weeks after it was first picked up by the youth.
The female cub at CBRC
The female cub was found alone on 30 January 2016 by a group of youth from Yemsing, a remote village in East Siang district of the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The young men had gone to check on their cardamom plantations when they noticed some dogs barking aggressively. On approaching the area, they found the bear cub surrounded by the dogs, alone and in distress.
They looked for signs of other bears in the area and on finding none, they picked the cub and brought it to the village. All the people except one plotted to kill the cub and sell its gall bladder, which they believed would fetch them a substantial amount of money while they kept feeding it oranges and potatoes.
The solitary voice of dissent belonged to Bame Jerang, who was among the group that rescued the cub from the dogs. He objected to this decision saying that he would complain to the forest department and initiate legal action if they did so. He managed to convince his partners to give up the idea of killing the cub and hand it over to the forest department instead.
The cub was duly handed over to Mr. Tashi Mije, DFO of D’ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, who called in the IFAW-WTI team at CBRC to rehabilitate the cub. The team acted immediately and the cub was admitted to CBRC on 23 February, almost three weeks after it was first rescued by the village youth.
“It is encouraging to see that one young man managed to influence and change the behavior of his peers and take positive action for saving the bear”, said Tashi Mije. In the face of increasing threats to wildlife, especially in this wildlife rich region of the country, the action taken by these youth will be recognized as an example to be emulated by other communities in the region.
The cub will undergo the process of rehabilitation under established protocols before it is found to be fit for release back to the wild. CBRC has till date sent 34 bear cubs back to the wild in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh.
Click here to read more about the rehabilitation that a batch of four cubs is currently undergoing in Arunachal Pradesh under the watchful eyes of their keepers.
