Seijosa (Arunachal Pradesh): Two hand-raised Asiatic black bear cubs are being readied for their release back to the wild in the Eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, an official monitoring the project said.

By a novel method of using surrogate human mothers, who “Walk the Bears” adapting them to their natural habitat, the two five-month old cubs are slowly learning about life in the wild.

“This method is being used for the first time in India,” Dr. N.V.K. Ashraf, Director of the Wild Rescue Programme of Wildlife Trust of India said. “It will help in the gradual acclimatization of the animals to their new home giving them an opportunity to learn foraging skills and to avoid predators. In the past, rehabilitators used to hard-release the bears in hibernation dens, a technique successfully used in sub-zero climates where bears are used to full hibernation,” he added.

However, Indian conditions do not match those in Siberia, where the successful experiments were done and this prompted the change in approach.

The five-month-old cubs were shifted to Khari Pong deep inside the forest in mid-August from the Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) in Pakke to start the exercise.

“In Borneo, wildlife rehabilitators had also experimented with this exercise before, and have successfully released three Malayan Sun bears.” Dr Ashraf said.

Currently, the bears are taken for walks twice daily – in the morning and in the evening with keeper, Deva Musahari, as the surrogate mother. The bears are sheltered in an enclosure for feeding and resting at night.

“With the help of the Geographic Positioning System (GPS), the bears are taken in the northerly direction from the site, as the terrain on the eastern side is rough and the southern side is affected by human settlements.” Dr. Prasanta Kumar Boro, the wildlife veterinarian of CBRC said.

“Sometimes, the bears move upto 40 to 50 meters away from the keeper – once out of sight, the bears would come back to the keeper by using their homing-in instincts.” Dr. Boro said.

“Data on their food preferences and foraging habits are also being collected.” he said.

Though, the method has been tested, many have cast doubts about the human imprint and are apprehensive that the animal might return to human settlements after release.

CBRC is a premier wildlife care centre in Arunachal Pradesh and a collaborative project of WTI, the forest department and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). Since its inception in 2002, the centre has catered to a variety of rare species.