Welcome to the team Fernando

By: David Jackson, Project coordinator, Andean Bear Project

The annual corn season had ended. A cage situated in a cornfield on the foothills of the western Andean ridge of Toisan had proved fruitless after two months positioned there. Bears had circled the cage, even entered it to take the corn bait I’d left in there, but had very cleverly avoided the specific bait that triggers the cage door to close. Crafty buggers!

For months we had been interested in capturing bears in this region, and it was always the plan to relocate the cage up on the western ridge following the corn season. So we put together an expedition to firstly look for an area of recent bear activity and then subsequently carry the cage there.

After some grueling effort from locals, bear volunteers and myself, the cage was positioned, assembled and activated in the desired spot. From here it was a waiting game as to when a bear would fall in the trap. For me it was certainly a when rather than an if as the cage was located on a ‘highway’ frequently used by bears to get from north to south.

We didn’t have to wait long to find out when. Five days later, I was listening for the last time of the day before going to bed and there it was; an active signal from the Toisan cage. From here followed a very busy and arduous 24 hours.

After informing the volunteers of the good news I ran down to the telephone 15 minutes away in the nearest town and informed head biologist Armando. Then I woke up Don Fausto, the local taxi driver (pick-up style) and we drove down to Santa Rosa to collect Alberto (our research assistant). We then returned to the ‘Bear House’ and prepared all the medicaments, collar, blow darts and tube. About an hours sleep ensued followed by final preparations and a very early breakfast (3am).

Don Fausto arrived at around 3.30am to take us all the way to the village of La Loma from where the long trek up to the ridge would start. The journey wasn’t without drama. Poor Mark, an English volunteer was nauseous and had to stop a few times to talk to his friend Huey (sorry mate!). Sadly Mark couldn’t carry on and had to return to the house.

So on we went and stopped off at a good friend, Angel Flores’ house. He is one of the happiest and most enthusiastic people I’ve ever met. Not to mention generous. As we arrived at almost 5am at his house, he was up like a shot, and offered to go and chase down his mules for those who would struggle with the high speed chase up a very steep and never-ending hill.

In the meantime, Alberto and I raced up the hill as fast as humanly possible to reduce the stress imposed on the bear in his time in the cage. We arrived in record time; Three and a half hours!

Arriving at the cage first, I could hear on approach some very heavy yet relaxed breathing. I became very excited. I opened the little cage window and beheld the largest face I’d ever seen. This was a ginormous bear, certainly an adult male. There he was sat down, calmly staring at us with his wise old eyes.

We decided to prepare the blow dart and organise necessary equipment meanwhile the remainder of volunteers and locals caught us up. On their arrival, we gave them the good news and requested their help in illuminating the cage whilst I darted the bear. First time shot and we waited... and waited. The old bear remained seated, slightly drunk, but not falling. Amazingly, it took three to four time the dosage to send this bear to sleep than it had for a similar sized bear caught two years previously.

This unanticipated delay put us way behind schedule to arrive back at the road before dark. But eventually the old bear slept enabling us to remove him from the cage and collar him. On seeing him full length, he was even bigger than first thought. On closer analysis, we deduced he certainly was a mature bear due to old scars indicating previous scraps with other male bears; presumably over mating or territorial rights.

With no time to spare, the process of measuring, sampling and collaring took place, largely aided by our hard-working volunteers and our friend Angel. The process went smoothly and we were ready to leave the bear to wake up within the half hour.

So we said our goodbyes, wished newly christened Fernando well and raced back down the hill to avoid the darkness before reaching the road. It became apparent that we weren’t going to avoid darkness and Alberto and I decided to sprint to the village of La Loma to phone a taxi home in order for it to arrive at the same time as the volunteers. That it did, and we eventually arrived back to the ‘Bear House’ at around 9pm. We arrived dirty, tired but elated at having added a further bear to our study group, in the fight for the protection of the species and its habitat.

Three months after Fernando being collared, we know he’s well. However it is extremely difficult to track him as he spends large time periods in the very remote Cotacachi-Cayapas Reserve. A perfect home for him yet difficult to gain location data points. Having said this we will strive to obtain data and follow Fernando’s progress with the goal of extending the protected reserve and its buffer zone.

For future bears captured in this region we hope to use GPS collars to maximise our productivity, improving our knowledge on the species and hence increasing our potential to protect the Andean bear and its habitat.