Sunday, October 12, 2008
In an earlier note I think I wrote about the Free the Bears project that was happening here at Cat Tien. All throughout Southeast Asia Asiatic Black bears are captured and kept in wee cages. Some are taken as pets, but many are kept to extract their bile. Bear bile is used in traditional medicine~it supposedly reduces fevers and has reconstructive properties for the liver. This link will take you to Wikipedia to find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_bile
The Free the Bears organization helps by confiscating the bears from their wee cages, and building larger, more bear-friendly enclosures like the one at Cat Tien. Can you imagine being a big bear in a tiny little cage? I've never thought about it, until Jude, one of the volunteers for Free the Bears, explained what they were doing. Bears in the wild can climb up and down trees, eat almost anything, and have very good vision. Bears who have been in cages all their lives have to be taught some of these things. The folks working with the bears not only manage the construction of the new enclosure, but also train the bears~they have to learn about electric fences, and are given enrichment toys to explore, like logs, hammocks, balls, and a swimming pool to splash around in. All these things are in a smaller training enclosure, and also in the larger one.
Jonathan and I went into the forest early, so we offered our help in the afternoons, and Nev, the man in charge, took us up on the offer! We got to chop rattan, play with high voltage electric fences, and help make enrichment toys for the bears in their new 1 hectare enclosure. On Friday, October 10th, several people from Free the Bears and Wildlife at Risk arrived at Cat Tien to help and watch the release of the bears into the BIG, NEW enclosure. There was also a film crew from a show called Extinction Sucks, that will begin airing on the internet in February.
The release was good. They let out 3 females and one male. 2 of the females went out easily and stayed out all night! The other 2 bears went out, found the electric fence, and didn't want to go back out. It will take some time, but eventually the goal is to have a group of males out one day, and a group of females out the following day. All of the bears will need to come back in at night, though, so it won't be a permanent home for the moment.
The picture above is of 2 bears, Bouncer and Spike. This was the first time they had been in the training area together. They wrestled and played together for over an hour! If you'd like to learn more about Free the Bears, click on this link: http://www.freethebears.org.au/
1 comment:
I really dig the bears and their place in your Vietnam adventures! I'm curious how other Southeast Asian countries shape up to Vietnam in terms of wildlife preservation -- I know environmental preservation can be a grim story (esp. from the environmental anthropologist point of view, e.g. Pam McElwee). I'm also curious about NGO work that's allowed or disallowed in Vietnam and mainland Southeast Asia. There's obvious interest in post-war NGO work (disarming land mines in Cambodia, Lao, Vietnam, etc). And, as Jonathan has so eloquently pointed out, biodiversity in Vietnam is quite special! I guess I'm wondering more about the regions in Central Vietnam that are somewhat desolate but in dire need of financial assistance and organizing (Quang Tri, Quang Binh). Are the NGO networks in Vietnam tuned into each others' efforts?
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