Tag: Bear

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Slovakia approves the sale of brown bear meat to the public

Last month, the Slovakian cabinet approved plans to cull around 1 quarter of the bear population in the country (currently at around 1300) after some high profile fatal encounters between humans and bears.

It is unclear what the actual carrying capacity of Slovakia, and indeed this is often the problem. The government decides what the carrying capacity is of the land, they set quotas for hunting them and they reap the money for hunting permits, as well as having to deal with any livestock predation. These different requirements are often lead to different groups having different desires and therefore results can be skewed to support a decision which is not in the best interest of the country or the population.

Having carrying capacity and population size done by truly independent researchers would help with this, but in most countries, this independence is not real, with the government holding the purse strings or similar power over future studies.

A reduction of a quarter, is a large step, will change the population makeup significantly and is likely to greatly disrupt bear tourism to the country.

Tourism revenue for this country has hovered between 1 and 2 billion dollars in recent decades, and while it is hard to pinpoint exactly how much of this is to do with wildlife, and particularly bear tourism, it is thought that a majority do some sort of ecotourism while in the country – therefore care must also be taken to not destroy this important income for the country.

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Hyper-carnivorous extinct California Grizzly bears were actually mostly vegetarian – before Europeans arrived

Extinct Californian Grizzly bear photo credit Vahe Martirosyan CC by SA 2.0

Before Europeans arrived, Grizzly bears were relatively common in California, with an estimated population of 10,000, around 20% of the USA population at the time.

Continue reading “Hyper-carnivorous extinct California Grizzly bears were actually mostly vegetarian – before Europeans arrived”
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Sweden began its annual wolf hunt on the first day of the year

I have talked about about wolf hunts in Sweden in the past. They recently reduced the required minimum population from 300 wolves down to 170 – given that the 300 was worked out scientifically (and most people believe that this population is way too small anyway).

The current population is 374, with a target kill this year of 30. The intention is to kill 5 families. However, this number of wolves is certainly not good. Sweden is a country of similar size to France, and much of the country is wild so a far larger population would be capable of not impacting humans.

Campaigners are claiming that this is illegal (and it is hard to argue them) as the Berne convention states that protected species cannot be caused to have their population fall below sustainable numbers – 170 is well below this level, and indeed 300 is likely only healthy long-term, because of wolves crossing over the border from Russia.

I have been lucky enough to see 2 Swedish wolves, one from a bear hide, and the other while watching a group of Elk. Well structured, the wolves in Sweden could be a huge positive for the country, particularly tourism and one would think would be important as Sweden has positioned itself as an ecotourism hotspot.

Without a change, they will destroy this early market which is good for the country.

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It is becoming increasingly clear: humans are responsible for the loss of mega fauna that we can see in the past

The skeleton above is the closest we can get to a real mammoth, as a result of their extinction. However, it is not the only missing large species – indeed, the elephant family alone, is thought to have around 30 extinct members. Aside from these, there are 2 known extinct species of the woolly rhino, cave lions and sabre-toothed tigers, and various species of bear, among many others.

If you go back 50,000 years, there were 57 species of megaherbivores (herbivores weighing over a ton), yet just 11 of these survive today – these include the elephant species, the rhino species the hippo and the giraffe.

Continue reading “It is becoming increasingly clear: humans are responsible for the loss of mega fauna that we can see in the past”
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America is following in Europe’s footsteps, with their recovering brown bears – now they are moving into human areas

This is a video of one of the clashes that I am talking about. The Grizzley bear population in 1975 ( in the lower 48 states) was just 700-800 (this excludes Alaska, where the current figure is 30,000) . The lower 48 states population has grown to around 1000 or an almost 50% increase.

There is a problem with this. Both in and out of Alaska (as well as Canada) these bears need space, and so are colonizing land that they previously roamed. Unfortunately, people rapidly forget how to live with animals like grizzly bears, so it is taking some significant work to live alongside these large animals once again.

The problem is, that when those encounters spike, generally authorities panic, and this generally leads to them looking to allow hunting once again. THIS IS DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE POPULATION IS NO-WHERE NEAR RECOVERED AT THE CURRENT TIME.

Continue reading “America is following in Europe’s footsteps, with their recovering brown bears – now they are moving into human areas”
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Sweden decides to kill 20% of its bears in its annual hunt

Wild bears in Sweden

Just under 500 permits have been granted for bear hunting, which would drop the countries population under 2000 across the whole country. This is 40% under the population that existed in 2008. This number of licenses gives the game away, it is a give away to the trophy hunting industry, and is not about controlling the population.

While many bear hunters are pleased, there are a significant number who are concerned. Anders Nilsson a hunter in north Sweden said “There are those within the hunting community that are concerned about too many bears being killed off”. This is well above the annual replacement rate, and it is predicted that if this level was sustained into next year, the number of bears would fall below the minimum level of 1400, that is thought that is needed to retain a healthy population within the country.

Bears are a protected species in Europe, and as such “deliberate hunting or killing of strictly protect species is prohibited” with this only being lifted as a “last resort” to protect public safety, crops or natural flora and fauna.

It is feared that the bear is heading in the same direction as the moose, with a population having fallen 60% in the 21st century – having killed too many moose, the hunters are now blaming the bears for killing too many of what is left, and leaving too small a share for trophy hunters in the country. Culls of both wolves (there are currently roughly 450 wolves in the country, considered above carrying capacity, but only because they compete with humans, there is little supported science in working out carrying capacity at this level) and lynx have been increasing (lynx have a population of around 1450, though this is also heavily depressed on what would occur naturally – lynx also rarely target domestic livestock, though in Sweden this is more complex, as reindeer in northern Sweden are semi domestic, being allowed to roam free but owned).

This cull is well above what should be allowed, and is clearly not in line with European rules. It is also highly dangerous, as it risks Sweden’s bear watching industry. 9.2% of the economy comes from tourism, and many of these will spend time in rural areas, trying to see the bears. While it is hard to find numbers for how much money the bear culling brings in, it is certainly lower than the ecotourism potential of each living bear.

I have been lucky enough to see both bear and wolf in Sweden, from a bear hide. Well worth a visit, though, you may feel it worth waiting till the country starts culling fewer. Having said this, visiting to see the bears may instead show the government the value of leaving more bears alive. We have a bear hide on our books in the country click here to see more, or to book your visit, which is likely to be a memory that stays with you for a long time.

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Boki the bear, from wildwood enjoys calpol to help with pain after surgery

Boki the bear (2 years old) was found to have a condition that I also have. It is known as hydrocephalus, and is caused when the liquid that is found around the brain does not drain away properly. This is often found in infants, but can also occur after a head injury.

When this liquid does not drain, rather than protecting the brain, this liquid squeezes the brain, which apart from being very painful (it usually causes insanity before death, if left untreated in babies) but can take decades to kill naturally.

It seems quite likely, that this bear would have died relatively quickly in the wild, as even if the illness did not kill, it would likely cause different behaviour which would likely have caused more problems.

While it is true that bears have a sweet tooth, which may have contributed to this bears like for it, they are also very intelligent, and may well have been able to connect the idea of feeling better with the medicine that he was taking.

Kazakhstan

Saiga Antelope Kazhakstan phtoo credit Aleksandr Putilin CC by SA 4.0

Kazhakstan

The ecosystems of the country are varied, Kazakhstan is covered mainly by 26% desert, 44% semi-desert, 6% forest and 24% steppe terrain. The southern and eastern parts of Kazakhstan are still wild and have untouched mountain landscapes. With this wide variety of landscapes, the wildlife is (understandably wide ranging as well).

Although all highly secretive and rarely seen there are 7 species of wild cat within this large country

There are also Caspian sea wolf (steppe wolf) and grey wolf, along with the Eurasian brown bear.

All these predators survive on meat. While the smaller cats will eat mostly rodents, the larger ones will survive on Argali and Urial (wild sheep), Bactrian camel, moose, and various species of deer and antelope.

Kazakhstan News

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Albino panda spotted in the wild

Rare albino panda seen again

If anyone has been reading this blog for some time, you may remember me writing about an albino panda that was photographed in wulong nature reserve in China (click here to read it)

This bear has been caught on camera (see above) and appears to be doing well. It has started to display mating behaviour and appears to be extremely healthy. It has all the features generally associated with albinism, with white fur and red eyes.. It is now around 5-6 years old, and has been seen playing with other pandas, suggesting that its unusual colouring is not leading to it being shunned from other pandas.

It was filmed approaching a mother with a 2 year-old cub. As the mother was ready to mate again, and yet did not show aggression to this male bear getting close, it is likely that this female is the mother of the white cub.

Currently thought to be numbered 1800 in the wild, the panda is currently listed as threatened – having been delisted from being endangered in 2016. It is also an integral part of the Giant panda national park which is being created, and links 67 panda reserves, allowing the bears to travel between the former islands of habitat, giving them the ability to breed in a more natural way. This is important, as inbreeding would make panda conservation even harder.

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Panda bear behaving like a meat eater/scavenger?

This bear was filmed, gnawing on a bone from a takin, a species of wild cattle.

For a species which is thought to survive exclusively on bamboo, this would be strange behaviour.

However, pandas do not survive exclusively on bamboo as roughly 1% of their diet comes from other foods. In fact, their digestive system is typical of a carnivore, so the remaining 1% of their diet can include eggs, small animals and carrion – like this bone. Pandas are also known to forage in farmland for pumpkin, kidney beans, wheat and domestic pig food.

The thing is, pandas eat up to 38kg a day, which means that during the week, they eat around 3kg of food that is not bamboo. This is significant, and while much of this may well be other vegetation, if the time spent on other food sources was around 1% of the time, it would suggest at least 1 hour a week spent eating other things.

One must remember that their intelligence is on a par with Chimpanzee and gorilla -like other bears, so they are capable of working things out.

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