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FREEDOM!!By: David Jackson, Project coordinator, Andean Bear Project
Initially we had intended to release the bears near the Sebretana waterfall of Yanahurco where we released the female bear, Colleen, last October. The waterfall is an absolutely perfect location, especially abundant in puyas for the bears to eat in their first days after waking up in a new world. Unfortunately, after almost 3 hours of attempting to arrive at this location in the ATV, we realised that we would be putting the bears’ lives at risk, should we continue on to the waterfall. Retrospectively, both the relocation to Yanahurco and the release of the bears after their rehabilitation were two situations in which we came too close to contradicting the beliefs and principals of our entire organisation and what we strive for. Consequently, we have decided that it is not worth putting bears at such risk again. Therefore future releases which involve long and difficult journeys will have to be accomplished with the aid of a helicopter. Realising we weren’t going to make it to the waterfall, we had to make the difficult decision of using plan B and looking for a nearby area suitable for the bears to be released. This was accomplished with the help of Hacienda Yanahurco owner, Fernando Cobo, who knows the terrain better than anyone. He led us to a ravine known to him with a bear corridor in close vicinity. It wasn’t the perfect waterfall we had hoped for, but had sufficiently abundant bear food and was also close to a known trail used by wild roaming bears. Given the bears’ excellent sense of smell, we are confident that they will pick up this trail, and also the scent of their foods, and follow the ravine in the direction of the forest.
So now the bears are free. We’ve all done all we can to help them on their way. It’s now down to them and their own natural instincts to live a long and prosperous life in the wild, as free beings at last!!! We all passionately hope and believe that Leo and Beto do make it out there, and go on to pass their genes on to the gene pools of future generations, and so the species will live on, as nature intended!!! We shall keep you updated on the progress of the bears in the latest news section of the website and the subsequent newsletter. |
The release day came, and what a beautiful morning it was! The snow-capped Cotopaxi (highest active volcano in the world) was back-dropped by the clearest of blue skies, and the golden brown paramo grasslands were glistening in the morning sun. Things were looking optimistic. After a freezing cold night and little sleep, we awoke and awaited the mysterious amphibious vehicle that was to transport the bears to their release site. It arrived at around 8.30am, and was prepared for action. Meanwhile, the project team accompanied by the BBC tranquilised the bears, removed them from their enclosure, and then took morphological measurements for comparative studies and blood and hair samples for genetic analysis. By the time this was completed, the ATV (all-terrain vehicle) had arrived at the enclosure, and the bears were lifted aboard their trailer to be pulled to freedom. In the meantime, the rest of the rehabilitation and release party followed the vehicle on horseback.
Given the very steep and bumpy terrain at Yanahurco, the ATV had problems on some of the steep slopes. These were worrying times, as this was an all-or-nothing attempt to release the bears. Going back was not an option, so absolutely everything was done to get the bears to an ideal release site. This meant at times Armando, I, and the local ‘chagras’ had to push the ATV, carry the 200 to 250 lb bears on our shoulders, and hold the vehicle when traversing slopes so it didn’t tumble down the hill. This was a real effort and all praise goes to the never say die attitude of our team and helpers.
On reaching the revised release point, we took the bears out of the ATV and left them in a comfortable position to awaken to their new world. From a distance we watched them for around 40 minutes to see them wake up. We were expecting to see them walk off into the distance, but not all fairytales end as you imagine. I’m certainly not implying a sad ending however. In a way, this was a more powerful ending that the one I’d hoped for. My lasting image of how we left the bears is the two of them hugging and embracing. For both Leo and Beto, their first experience in the wild was a fitting embrace with the one they had spent so many captive experiences with, on their incredible journey to freedom. It was as if they were saying “We made it brother!!!”