The female bear cub is radio-collared by Dr Rinku Gohain, the IFAW-WTI veterinarian at the rehabilitation site in Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh. It is one of the two cubs that were rescued by the Assam forest department rescue team from a household in Karbi Anglong district of Assam in January 2018.

Later the cubs were shifted to the Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC), a joint project with Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department and WTI in Pakke Tiger Reserve as part of rehabilitation program of the animals. Out of these two, one female cub, unfortunately, couldn’t complete the entire program and died of a venomous snake bite during one of the wild walks in the as a part of the acclimatization program. The surviving cub was radio-collared by the IFAW-WTI team on Thursday, 7th February 2019. The animal is now under observation and gradually the animal will be released and monitored by radio transmitter tracking.

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The two female bear cubs were rescued by a team of frontline staff from the Karbi Anglong Forest Department who confiscated the cubs from a house in Dokmoka on 22nd January 2018. The cubs had apparently been kept in the house for a week; it is surmised that villagers found them while moving through the nearby forest and brought them home to keep as pets. Both the female cubs were 1.5 kg and 1.4 kg body weight respectively and seemed to be in good health – despite the fact that they were given human food in captivity and while rescued they were admitted to CWRC on 22nd January 2018. After passing the quarantine phase of a disease screening and intensive health examination, they were handraised and inducted for rehabilitation back to the wild.

Photo Credits: Subhamoy Bhattacharjee, IFAW/ WTI