As the cage holding an endangered Formosan black bear swung open, conservationists blasted gunshots and air horns to ensure the frightened young bear disappeared quickly into the mountains of central Taiwan, hopefully far from human contact.
Ziman, a one-and-a-half-year-old bear, had finally recovered from the amputation of a paw caused by a hunter’s steel noose and now had a second chance in life.
“Please take care of him and help him find his parents safely,” prayed Pihao Payen, the leader of a nearby Atayal community, as Ziman disappeared from sight.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Taiwanese hunters and conservationists are teaming up to protect the remaining few hundred Formosan black bears by designing new traps which would not amputate an animal’s limbs if they are accidentally caught in the snare. While bears are not a target for indigenous Taiwanese hunters, people in Pihao Payen’s village accidentally caught bears twice in recent years in traps for prey such as deer and boars, a traditional practice in their culture.
Since 2014, 18 bears have been captured in traps, with six found dead, the Taiwan Black Bear Conservation Association said. While most of the bears were released, some suffered major injuries caused by old-fashioned hunting tools such as metal snares, which can break bones or sever paws or toes as the bear struggles to break free.
“Steel snares bounce off from the ground and tighten when triggered by animals,” said Liu Li-wen, an animal caretaker who oversaw Ziman’s recovery.
“The snare turned tighter and tighter as the animal struggled. When blood circulation stopped, his entire paw turned necrotic,” she said, showing pictures of Ziman’s swollen left paw. Vets had to cut most of the paw off to save the cub’s life after two months of treatment.
“That is why we are seeing many bears with broken paws or toes in the wild. It is likely that they were entangled in traps, broke free by themselves and survived,” she said.
The Formosan black bear is one of the seven subspecies of the Asiatic black bear and is considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as vulnerable to extinction. Indigenous to sub-tropical Taiwan, it has an iconic V-shaped white mark on its chest and is seen as a symbol of Taiwanese identity that champions its diverse culture and freedom. Democratic Taiwan was also previously better known internationally as Formosa.
To reduce death or injuries of wildlife, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency is urging hunters and farmers to adopt a new type of animal snare designed to trap only smaller prey and which does not tighten to the point of amputation.
More than 5,600 such traps have been given to hunters and farmers for free across mountainous Taiwan, which is 60 percent covered by forests, while monetary rewards are given to those who report cases of bears caught by traps.
“Because of its small size and because the bear’s palm is very wide, you see that it [the bear paw] would not fall in completely when stepped on like this,” said Pan Wen-ming, an Amis hunter and guava farmer in central Taiwan, as he demonstrated how to set up the new trap to Reuters reporters.
“It tries to minimize [bear injuries] while letting the elders and hunters of our tribe still hunt for prey,” he said.
Some hunters kill snared bears for fear of being prosecuted for trapping a protected animal, Wushikeng Research Center bear shelter chief Chen Yen-long said.
Sadly, Ziman was found dead in the central mountains only weeks after his release, with authorities unable to determine cause of death.
“This is not the end of the story. We will not stop what we are doing,” said Lai Chiao-ling, one of Ziman’s caretakers. “At least there are still bears in the wild for us to save.”
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