The Rescue of 'Marcia', an Andean Bear Cub

By: Armando Castellanos, Director Intag Andean Bear Research Project (FUNDEBO)

In the early part of November 2005, I received a report from the Carchi Provincial Government Environmental Unit that a bear cub was being kept at a farm in the El Chamizo community, near the city of San Gabriel in the north-eastern region of Ecuador.

On 17 November 2005, Daniel Zwolenski (Project Technical Officer) and I travelled to the farm to assess the validity of the report. On arriving at the farm, I was surprised and disturbed to find a female bear cub living in an extremely small enclosure normally used for guinea pigs. Even though the female cub was very small, she was not able to fully stand up or move around. Furthermore, she was being fed with porridge, cooked rice, soups etc. She was not being given a feeding bottle which is required by a cub of her age. Faced with this situation, I decided to rescue the bear cub immediately (despite the lack of a transport cage).

I spoke with the farm owners whilst we improvised a transport cage. The owners explained that the cub was called Marcia and that she was found together with her brother in September 2005. Both cubs were found in high montane forest at approximately 3300m a.s.l. Marcia was three months old when she was found. Sadly, her brother died a few days after being captured. The farm owners claimed that the cubs had been abandoned by their mother. However, this is unlikely given that female bears do not easily abandon their cubs. It is much more likely that the female was shot whilst entering or feeding in a nearby cornfield.

Once Marcia was placed in the cage, she began to show signs of extreme nervousness, emitting moans and other distress sounds. I also noticed that she had diarrhoea (another indication of distress).

We drove Marcia to Quito (approximately 5 hours from the farm). I decided that she should spend several days at the Dino Veterinary Clinic with the Project's vet Dr. Leonardo Arias. After several days’ recuperation, Marcia was taken to the Segunda Oportunidad Rescue Centre where I hope she will continue to grow and improve her health. Marcia will then be sent to the Santa Martha Rescue Centre (also part of FUNDEBO). The Rescue Centre has a large enclosure where Marcia can be rehabilitated before eventually being released back into the wild.

The story of Marcia is not new to this Project as the majority of our rescued bears have a similar history. Our Project rescues an average of two Andean Bears per year. We hope that with your help we can continue to rescue Andean Bears in similar situations and release them back into the wild where they belong.