15/02/2005 - The small
village of El Pensil in Colombia’s Massif
Central district discovered a very special
visitor one morning devouring its maize
crops…an endangered spectacled bear. Despite
the damage caused to the crop, the community
decided to welcome Latin America’s only
bear species before it returned to its natural
habitat in the Guácharos–Puracé
Biological Corridor.
Don Rosalino Ortiz, a maize farmer in the
small Massif Central village of El Pensil
in Colombia’s south-east, arrived to his
mountain-side field one early morning only
to find it almost completely destroyed.
Fearing that it might have been the work
of monkeys or the raccoon-like coati, he
sent his son out to find the culprits. The
son returned with news that the crops were
indeed being destroyed, but by something
slightly larger than a monkey. It was the
work of a bear, a spectacled bear.
Named for its unique facial markings across
its brow, spectacled bears (Tremarctos ornatus)
measure between 1.5–2m from head to tail
and weigh between 140–175kg Found in small
numbers throughout the Andes Mountains of
Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia,
this species favours plants such as palms,
orchids, fruits, and just about any other
food available at high altitudes. Due to
habitat loss, though, some have been known
to search for ‘greener pastures’, particularly
fertile agricultural lands, in search of
a quick feed.
“This bear is more than two metres tall
and heavily built,” said Gilberto Muñoz,
another farmer whose corn fields have been
affected by the bear, which locals refer
to as Danubio after the hill where he is
often found feeding. “It seems that he has
become fat on all the maize he has eaten.”
Farmers in South America have been known
to protect their crops by spraying special
pesticides on their corn fields to repel
this species of bear. But the locals of
El Pensil decided against such extreme action
and have allowed this particular bear to
stay, at least for the time being.
“Normally, when a bear raids a farmer’s
field it becomes a problem ending in the
death of the animal,” stated Luis Carlos
Rosero, from Fundación Wii, an organization
working with spectacled bear conservation
in Colombia. “We believe it’s necessary
to take immediate action to ensure that
the animal’s life is respected.”
The day after it became known that a bear
was raiding the maize fields, the Ortiz
family arranged a community meeting with
their neighbours to decide what to do about
the animal. The decision: “Let it eat the
corn, let’s conserve it, surely, we have
more to gain if we let it live than if we
kill it.”
Danubio observed
Responding to a call from El Pensil seeking
advice on how to manage the village’s unexpected,
and potentially dangerous visitor, Fundación
Wii, together with WWF Colombia and the
Colombia National Parks Unit (Unidad Administrativa
Especial del Sistema de Parques Nacionales
Naturales de Colombia) mobilized into action.
“Without a doubt, this was one of the most
exciting pieces of news to reach those of
us working on spectacled bear conservation,”
said Luis Germán Naranjo, the ecoregional
coordinator for WWF’s Northern Andes programme.
“Hearing about the presence of a spectacled
bear is always good news, it means that
Andean landscapes are still providing habitat
to a species of vital importance for the
local ecosystem.”
On their first visit, wildlife and conservation
officials came to observe the bear and to
meet with the community. There was general
agreement that the bear’s movements should
be initially monitored from a distance before
deciding whether or not to re-locate it
to its natural habitat in the 200,000ha
Guácharos – Puracé Biological
Corridor. They also familiarized locals
with an environmental education and awareness-raising
programme being carried out as part of the
region’s Biological Corridor Project (BCP).
This programme, led by the regional environmental
authority for the Alto Magdalena region
(CAM) and the Southern Andes section of
the Colombian National Parks Unit, aims
to conserve exceptional natural resources
and biological diversity between the National
Parks of Puracé and Cueva de los
Guácharos.
On a subsequent visit, WWF helped organize
observation brigades to monitor the bear’s
visits to the area, and workshops were given
to inform the community about the bear’s
presence and what to do if they came across
it. Villagers were instructed to inform
local environmental authorities in the event
of seeing the bear, and if possible, to
drive it back into the nearby protected
forest area, either by making noise or using
barking dogs.
“I can’t put into words the emotion you
feel when you see one of these animals in
front of you,” Naranjo added. “The spectacled
bear is one of the flagship species within
the Northern Andes. Its conservation is
fundamental, and the response from the village
community is an example which must be supported.”
Spectacled bears are listed as vulnerable
by the World Conservation Union – IUCN,
and have an Appendix I listing under the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
— a listing that bans international commercial
trade in species threatened with extinction.
WWF, together with such partner organizations
as Fundación para la Defensa de la
Naturaleza (FUDENA) in Venezuela and Fundación
Natura in Ecuador, have set out conservation
targets in the Northern Andes Ecoregional
Complex (NAEC) to help protect the future
of the Andean spectacled bear, including
expanding the region’s systems of protected
areas and increasing the connectivity of
large uninterrupted tracks of natural habitats,
as well as controlling hunting, and reducing
human-bear conflicts by working with local
communities.
"The Biological Corridor Project is
encouraging communities to plant crops for
bears on the highest part of the mountain
slope and away from the town to avoid potential
human-bear conflict,” said Olga Lucia Hernàndez,
WWF’s Northern Andes Officer. “We are also
supporting an Andean bear conservation and
monitoring programme within the biological
corridor."
In the hands of the community
The population of El Pensil has traditionally
lived off agriculture and subsistence hunting.
For generations, these rural inhabitants
have hunted agoutis (guinea pig-like rodents),
chachalacas (pheasant-like birds), deer,
and other forest animals. However, the villages
within the biological corridor — Montecristo,
El Carmen, El Salao and El Pensil — have
been part of an environmental awareness-raising
process that focuses on conservation and
sustainable management of natural resources.
The results are already beginning to be
seen, particularly with regards to efforts
made to save the spectacled bear. And, changes
have also been made towards introducing
more sustainable farming practices. To date,
almost 37 rural communities from the region
have received training in such issues as
sustainable crops, organic farming, reforestation,
and river catchment management.
“The community’s response shows that we
have made an impact within these families
with regard to conservation,” stated Joaquín
Zambrano, CAM director. “This change of
attitude is a sign of the important role
that communities play in decision making
in favour of nature and their standard of
living.”
“We are convinced that our change in attitude
means that not only are we going to save
Danubio, but we’re also going to take seriously
the responsibility of conserving this region’s
natural wealth,” added Rosalino Ortiz, the
son of the owner of the cornfield who first
spotted the bear.
The maize harvests have ended now making
Danubio’s presence in the area more sporadic.
All that seems to remain are his footprints
and the remains of a few corn cobs, indicating
that he has gone back to the forest.
* María Ximena Galeano is a Communications
Officer with WWF Colombia
NOTES:
WWF Northern Andes Ecoregional Programme
Established in 1999, the Northern Andes
Ecoregional Programme aims to expand protected
area systems in the region in order to increase
ecosystem representation within these areas.
It also aims to ensure the connectivity
between large blocks of natural vegetation
in landscapes with land uses that are compatible
with conservation objectives; maintain ecological
and evolutionary processes along altitudinal
gradients; and maintain viable populations
of focal species, such as the spectacled
bear, as well as the mountain tapir and
Andean condor.
WWF Colombia
WWF Colombia Programme Office began work
on specific conservation projects in different
regions of the country in 1964. Activities
related to conservation and sustainable
development are aimed at achieving global
results in forest, freshwater, ocean and
coast ecosystems, using umbrella species
and taking into account the effects of climate
change and indiscriminate use of toxic chemicals.
In Colombia, these results are obtained
by means of environmental education, capacity
building, environmental policy, and communications
strategies. These strategies seek to have
a significant impact on the Chocó
Ecoregion, the Northern Andes Ecoregion
and the Orinoco Basin, as well as the sustainable
management of its natural resources.
