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Bear Conservation Around the World
by Christopher Servheen

The world’s eight bear species have been eliminated from more than half of their historic range and what remains will continue to dwindle unless serious conservation efforts for all the species are made. Like most other large mammals, bears have declined and continue to decline in numbers because of habitat loss, mostly to fill human needs for living and agricultural space, and to commercial exploitation of natural resources. People also kill bears for a variety of reasons, depending on the species and its distribution. Bears are hunted legally, poached for their parts and products for use in traditional medicine and for food, and killed as pests.

A major problems facing bears today is population insularization, in which subpopulations of bears become isolated from one another and each isolated subpopulation lives in a relatively small area with limited resource diversity. Already many isolated subpopulations of some species, including brown bears and American black bears, have gone extinct.

Current conservation efforts vary in intensity, from the highly organized management of grizzly bears and the international cooperation in the management of polar bears to no management of most Asian species. Unfortunately, the size of many bear populations is either unknown or too low to sustain any human-caused mortality. All species of bears except the brown bear and the American black bear are considered either endangered or vulnerable.

Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

The giant panda has been called a "blueprint for extinction" due to its highly specialized habits and its localized range. With fewer than 1,000 wild giant pandas in 25 subpopulations distributed along the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, the giant panda faces many of the same challenges as other insular bear populations. Worldwide concern is focused on the situation of the giant panda and as a result significant progress may be made to address these problems. Management tactics used to deal with the plight of the giant panda in the future may serve as an example for bear conservation in other areas. (To read more about panda conservation, see Devra Kleiman’s article in this issue.)

Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus)

Habitat loss is the major problem facing the spectacled bear. Human activity—agricultural development and exploitation of natural resources such as timber and minerals—destroys habitat and leads to the insularization of bear populations. Increased farming in the spectacled bear’s range has lead to depredations on crops. Ultimately, this results in dead bears because the farmers view spectacled bears as direct competitors for survival.

Spectacled bears are also hunted for use in folk medicine. Fat is used for bone bruises, and claws and penis bones are believed to enhance strength and fertility. Additionally, there is a certain perceived machismo associated with hunting that contributes to the killing of bears.

Each country in its northeastern South American range now has laws protecting the spectacled bear, but enforcement is limited and the future of the spectacled bear rests to a large degree on these governments’ ability and commitment to support sustained resource-use policies that can afford protected core areas for reserves for bears. Education of the local people about the bear to promote public support is the most important and immediate task of conservationists.

Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus)

Conversion of thousands of square miles of lowland forest to agricultural uses in Southeast Asia and the killing of bears by settlers are decimating the sun bear population. Bear habitat is destroyed when land is cleared to create coffee, rubber, and oil palm plantations. Meanwhile, reserves and parks are magnets for poachers because they often are the only areas where large animals remain. For instance, more than 60 well-used poacher camps were discovered recently in a Thai reserve. Poachers sell the bears as pets or for their parts.

The insularization of reserves as the surrounding lands are developed compounds the problem, and because a sun bear’s basic habitat needs are relatively unknown, existing reserves may not even be providing appropriate habitat.

Conservation groups and government managers have shown little interest in sun bears, mainly because little is known about them. However, sun bear research projects were begun recently on Borneo.

Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus)

There are probably 8,000 to 22,000 sloth bears in the world, most living in central India’s tropical dry deciduous forests. The sloth bears’ range—India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan--is highly fragmented, and habitat alteration, such as forest cutting, and poaching threaten isolated populations. Already the bear is gone from much of its former range.

The number of sloth bear gall bladders in international trade may indicate that poaching could have significant impact on the remaining population. Meanwhile, females with cubs are killed so the cubs can be sold for "dancing bears" or used in "dog fights" in Pakistan and elsewhere. Laws to prevent killing of bears and the export of their parts are either ineffective or not enforced. (For more information about sloth bears, see John Seidensticker’s article in this issue.)

American black bear (Ursus americanus)

The American black bear is widely distributed throughout North America, occurring in all Canadian provinces (except Prince Edward Island), northern Mexico, and in 32 states of the United States. Most existing populations are stable or increasing due to careful management. An estimate by 32 states and 11 provinces revealed a total of 500,000 to 600,000 black bears. The species is adapted to a variety of habitats and can live near people, who are more tolerant of this species than its cousin in western North America, the grizzly bear.

The American black bear is considered a game animal throughout most of its range, and its hunting is carefully managed. However, some poaching occurs and gall bladders and other parts from this species sometimes appear on the black market.

Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus)

Asiatic black bears are found through much of southern Asia, where, it is believed, they prefer forested hills and mountains and the tropical moist forest below alpine elevations. With the possible exceptions of the dense forests of Laos and Burma, and the Russian Far East, the Asiatic black bear is in serious danger throughout its range. It suffers from habitat loss, poaching for parts and products, being killed for sport and as a pest, and being captured for the pet trade.

The capture of bears for use as performing animals, for instance, is still quite common in Pakistan. Captive bears are taught to wrestle and dance by groups of "gypsies" who earn their sole living from the bears.

The Asiatic black bear is a favored species for traditional medicine and for specialty cuisine, such as bear-paw soup. It is also the most readily available bear species in the three countries where these uses are most prevalent: Korea, Japan, and China.

This bear is very close to extinction, or may already be extinct in South Korea, where it is the only native bear. In Japan, the species went extinct on Kyushu island in the 1950s, but remains on Honshu and Shikoku. However, it is still legally hunted as a game animal, even in some national parks and sanctuaries. Conversion of its habitat to monoculture plantations of cedar and cypress poses yet another problem for the bear in Japan. Once the natural forests are removed, the plantations become sources of food. Bears then become "pests," and are destroyed when they enter plantations and peel bark to reach the trees' cambium.

In China, the demand for bile from this species for use in traditional medicine has led to bear "farms," where the animals are held in small cages and their bile is drained by means of tubes surgically implanted into their bile ducts. The extracted bile is then dried and sold in the form of dark brown crystals. As many as 10,000 Asiatic black bears exist on such farms.

Thailand is also a center of the trade in this species. In fact, Korean tourists visit Thailand in groups to enjoy meals of bear meat and bear-paw soup. In Thailand, however, there is little differentiation in the marketing of sun bears and Asiatic black bears. It is likely that both are eaten and kept as pets depending on their availability.

Little is known about Asiatic black bears in Burma, Laos, and Vietnam, except that they occur in forested areas in these countries and they are not protected there.

Brown bear (Ursus arctos)

The range of the brown bear is larger than that of any other bear species. Brown bears occur in Europe, Asia, and North America from northern Arctic tundra to dry deserts. Within this vast area, however, the brown bear's distribution has been significantly reduced, largely as a result of increasing human populations and habitat loss. Since the mid 1800s the rate of decline accelerated with the advent of the use of firearms and poison to kill bears.

This decline is well documented in Europe, where bears in modern Denmark disappeared about 3,700 years ago. They went extinct in Great Britain in the tenth century, in eastern Germany in 1770, in Bavaria in 1836, in Switzerland in 1904, and in the French Alps in 1937.

Only small numbers of bears in isolated populations remain elsewhere in western Europe. For instance, a population in the Pyrenees Mountains on the border between France and Spain numbers just six to eight animals, making it one of the most endangered wild mammal populations on Earth. A few bears from Eastern Europe have been reintroduced into an area east of this population, but the future of this population is unknown. Similarly, two small populations exist in Italy, one of five to ten animals in the Trentino Alps, another of 70 to 80 animals in the Appennines in and around Abruzzo National Park.

Five to six thousand bears survive in eastern Europe, with most in Romania. Russia boasts the largest bear population at more than 120,000, but both hunting and poaching kill large numbers of bears each year. Brown bears remain in China and Mongolia, although in declining numbers, and are rare in northern India and Pakistan. Three small populations live on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

In North America, the brown bear is divided into two subspecies: the grizzly, found in continental North America, and the Kodiak bear, which lives on the Alaskan islands of Kodiak, Shuyak, and Afognak. Brown bears occupy a range about the half the size as 100 years ago, when bears lived in suitable habitats in most of western North America from the Arctic Ocean to central Mexico. Their decline was rapid, and isolation into small populations was well underway by 1922; most isolates are now extinct. The species now exists throughout Alaska and western Canada, where it is still considered a game animal. Fewer than 1,000 live in five subpopulations in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington.

Polar bear (Ursus maritimus)

Polar bears are distributed throughout coastal habitat in five nations: Greenland, Norway, Russia, Canada, and the United States, as well as on the Arctic Sea. The population is divided in 19 population units with an estimated 22,000 to 27,000 polar bears worldwide. At present, the polar bear occupies the majority of its original habitat.

The future prospects of the polar bear are much brighter now than in the 1960s due to international cooperation on management and research facilitated by the Polar Bear Specialist Group, which is composed of bear biologists and conservationists organized by the World Conservation Union’s Species Survival Commission. A factor in the success of the specialist group was the mutual concern of member countries and the similar threats facing the species throughout its range. The fact that most polar bear populations cross national boundaries also promoted international cooperation. Polar bears now appear secure worldwide with only some limited concern about certain small areas.

The species remains highly vulnerable to habitat alteration, however. Ongoing oil and gas exploration and development in the Arctic basin, with the risk of an accidental oil spill that could destroy habitat, is a potential threat. Another major threat is the concentration of environmental toxins in polar bears, which are at the top of the Arctic food chain. Chemicals such as heavy metal and chlorinated hydrocarbons have been appearing in increasing amounts in polar bear tissue. Should these levels affect reproduction, a significant change in the population could take place despite limited harvest and continuing habitat availability. The ability of managers to affect the concentrations of these contaminants is minimal given their global origin.

Management strategies for bears are generally directed at ensuring that habitat remains available and managing the rate of human-induced mortality. To do this requires research about the species to determine its current distribution, habitat requirements, food habits, patterns of land use, reproductive behavior, and ability to sustain a certain rate of mortality. Then, programs must use these data so that the species’ needs are met. In addition, sociological issues must be addressed so the species has success in its continuing interactions with people.

Public education about bears and ways to coexist with bears are critical to bear conservation worldwide. The key to successful conservation is the acceptance and management of bears by people who live near them. What is good for bear conservation is also good for human survival and quality of life, and this must be the primary theme of public education about bears. In a very real sense, the fate of all the bears may be decided in the next ten to 20 years.

Christopher Servheen is the Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Co-chair of the World Conservation Union/Species Survival Commission Bear Specialist Group.

ZooGoer 28(2) 1999.
Copyright 1999 Friends of the National Zoo.
All rights reserved.

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