New female bear, Carolina, captured in Cazarpamba cornfield

By: Donna Caswell, Andean Bear Project Volunteer

The capture, collaring and release of a wild Andean bear is an exciting experience; not only for the opportunity of being in such close proximity to such a rare and endangered species, but also in knowing that the data we collect from this individual will be crucial in aiding the conservation of such a beautiful, intelligent and endangered species.

Carolina’s capture occured on the 11th of May 2006. Daisy Hebb - a fellow volunteer who at the time was teaching English in the local school of Cazarpamba - was responsible for listening to the cage twice daily using radio-telemetry equipment. With this equipment she was checking for the emission of an active signal from the cage, signifying a bear (or some other interesting creature) is inside. The cage was located in the same corn field in which we captured another female bear, Fiona, in April 2005. As Daisy listened on the evening of the 10th of May I am sure her heart began to race, as mine would have too. She had heard an active signal. Daisy and project assistant, Samuel Ayala, decided to go down to the cage to check there really was a bear inside and it was no false alarm - sure enough, we had captured a new bear!

Daisy and Samuel climbed the very steep path from the cage to pass on a message via telephone to local farmer, Don Fausto Betancourt of Pucara, to let project coordinator, David Jackson, know of the capture. From this point, David, I and the other volunteers prepared all necessary items for the tranquilisation and collaring procedure. By the time David, I and the volunteers arrived at Cazarpamba it was late, and there was still a long dangerous walk to the cage ahead. After a lengthy discussion between project staff, weighing up bear stress, volunteer safety and the difficulty of performing such a task in the dark, the decision was made to delay procedures until early the following morning. Here in Intag it is totally dark at 7:00 pm. Not only does this present safety issues when tranquilising such a large animal, but also in accessing a cage which is situated in a steep valley with narrow paths overlooking massive drops. The delay also gave Armando Castellanos, project director and Leonardo Arias, project veterinarian, the opportunity to drive up from Quito to be present for the tranquilizing and collaring process. They finally arrived at 1.15am and got around 3 hours sleep before we embarked on the trip to the cage.

So, the following morning we were all up at the crack of dawn excited to be heading off to see our new bear. When we arrived we found a young female – who later would be determined to be approximately 2 years old. The routine procedure of tranquilising her then began. Xylacine and ketamine are the drugs used for this purpose and are usually administered using a blow dart. However, this is a very difficult procedure as the experienced staff members only have a very small window in which to aim into an extremely dark cage. Volunteers at the time helped by shining a number of torches into the hole. To increase difficulty, Andean bear hide is very difficult to penetrate due to their tough skin and dense muscle. In the past the drugs have been administered in the first dart. Being such a small bear in a very dark cage it proved very difficult to administer the blow dart using the blow dart method. Plan B was necessary, and two members of the team managed to loop a piece of rope around the bears paw as she poked it out of one of the small viewing holes. Then, with amazing speed, Leonardo the vet injected the tranquiliser into the dorsal part of the paw. Within minutes the bear was fast asleep.

She was then taken out of the cage so the project staff could begin the necessary processes. Myself and other volunteers now had the opportunity of seeing this amazing wild animal more closely for the first time. However, now the project staff had to work even quicker to secure the radio collar; collect the necessary hair and blood samples; take morphological measurements; and dispense antibiotics and vitamins, before the effects of the tranquilizer wore off.

Everything was completed successfully and as the female bear began to wake up the majority of us left so as to reduce the amount of stress experienced by the animal on her groggy awakening. Staff members Armando, David and Samuel did however remain to ensure that the bear experienced a good recovery, and they watched as she walked back towards the cloud forest from which she had come with a new collar, a new family, and a new name... Carolina.

It has now been a little over two months since Carolina’s capture and just yesterday myself and other volunteers were listening to her using the radio telemetry equipment. We have been able to follow her movements in this way, and in time the project staff will be able to determine her core area and home range as they have done with previous bears. The data obtained from our new bear, Carolina, is playing an important role in providing more defined species core area and home range size estimates, which will prove imperative in the conservation of the Andean Bear and its habitat.