Pakke: The arrival of a five-month-old Himalayan black bear cub at the Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) has raised the count of bears at CBRC to six. This cub has had more than its share of adventure, separated at first from its mother and sibling, rescued by tribals, reared by a range officer till it was brought to CBRC where it would be rehabilitated and then released into the wild.

About four months ago, some Lisu tribesmen found this cub in the forests of the north eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The mother had accidentally left this cub behind when she climbed a tree with another cub to escape the tribals.

The tribesmen rescued the cub and with the assistance of some locals, handed her over to Mr.Subbu Hanya, Range Officer of Diyun situated in the district of Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh.

For the past few months the cub was being reared by him. However, as the cub was growing up fast he informed the CBRC so that the bear can be rehabilitated and subsequently released into the wild. The cub was handed over to Dr. Darge Tsering, the emergency rescue veterinarian from CBRC yesterday.

CBRC was initiated in March 2002, following a MoU signed between the Government of Arunachal Pradesh and WTI. CBRC, which is run by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in partnership with International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) aims to help the displaced Himalayan black bear cubs and attempt to release the bears around the Pakke Wildlife Sanctuary.

“Yesterday afternoon when I went to the range officer’s house the cub was playing with Mr Subbu’s dog. There were howls of protest from the cub when I tried to put her inside the cage in the ambulance” Dr Tsering said.

“In CBRC this cub will be under quarantine for the next three weeks where she will undergo various disease screening procedures. She will then be introduced to the other cub, which was rescued from Bana over a month ago”, he added.

“More cubs are expected at the centre, but space is a constraint,” he said. Though concerned that the level of imprinting is high, he was hopeful that the gradual change in diet, feeding regimen, handling procedures, minimization of contact intervals and time shall bring back the wild traits in the bears and in due course they will be successfully released back where they should belong.

Pix: IFAW