(Central News Agency reporter Lu Taicheng, Taitung County, 4th) The Taiwanese black bear “Li Gaowan” released into the wild by the Forestry Conservation Department in August recently received a death signal from the satellite transmitter on its collar. Forestry Conservation Department personnel immediately went to the mountain to find the bear in the virgin forest. It was discovered that the collar fell off prematurely, and the black bear was found to be safe and sound, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
In early April this year, members of the Jinping Tribe of Haiduan Township in Taitung County reported that a Formosan black bear was trapped in a lasso on the Jinping Forest Road in Haiduan Township. After the Taitung Branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Service of the Ministry of Agriculture and the tribe and the Yewan Wildlife Conservation Association team After the rescue, he recovered well under careful care and was released back into the forest on August 15 and named Ligauwan (the name of the Jinping tribe).
The Taitung Branch Office issued a press release today stating that for more than two months after its release, it continued to use satellite tracking signals to understand its whereabouts. However, at midnight on October 29, several signals returned from the satellite showed that he continued to be stationary and his body temperature dropped, and he was suspected to be dead. Including the Jinping tribe members who assisted in the follow-up monitoring, all members involved in the rescue, care and release of Ligaowan fell into extreme uneasiness and anxiety.
The Taitung Branch Office stated that the next day, Taitung Branch Office staff, together with Yewan veterinarians and researchers from Yesheng Environmental Ecology Co., Ltd., formed a team to search for the positioning point of the last transmission of the collar. After two days of journey, they finally found the location at an altitude of about 2,300 kilometers. The detached collar was found in the primeval forest about 10 feet away. After analyzing the signs at the scene, it was determined that Li Gaowan was safe and sound. The people at the scene and the Jinping people all breathed a sigh of relief and prayed that Li Gaowan, who was freed from the collar in advance, would be able to survive. Continue to live leisurely in the mountains and forests.
Taitung Branch Natural Conservation Section Chief Lin Mengyi said that the collar was found under a green oak tree. This area is a natural forest of the Fagaceae family in the Central Mountains. It has extremely high ecological diversity, is inaccessible and has abundant food sources. It is particularly The dispatchers found many black bear scratches and excrement in the surrounding area, and even found a bear den in the hole of a hemlock tree.
Since there was a small amount of hair suspected to be from a Taiwanese black bear on the recovered collar, it was initially determined that the collar was pulled off when Li Gaowan was climbing and moving. Relevant evidence has been properly collected and brought back to provide follow-up research and analysis. .
Lin Mengyi said that after the release of Ligao Wanye, the monitoring plan that was originally expected to be implemented for at least one year ended prematurely. From the activity track data accumulated for nearly 75 days after being released into the wild, it can be found that Li Gaowan mostly moves at the border of Zhuoxi Township in Hualien and Haiduan Township in Taitung, and in areas adjacent to Jinping and Changliang forest roads, but not close to the surrounding areas. tribe.
Li Gaowan’s daily routine mainly consists of daytime activities and resting at night. His activity range is located in a natural forest in a mid-altitude mountainous area, with a moving area of about 8.74 square kilometers (about the size of more than 1,200 football fields), and a core activity range of 1.83 square kilometers (nearly 256 square kilometers). as big as a football field). The activity range is approximately between 1,400 and 2,400 meters above sea level, with a total moving distance of approximately 90.9 kilometers. The steepest slope once reached 67.5 degrees, which shows that Ligaowan wild animals have maintained normal activity patterns after their release.
Taitung Branch Director Wu Changyou said that the location where the collar was found this time should be the extremely important habitat of Ligaowan. The Taitung Branch has set up multiple infrared cameras at appropriate locations in this area, hoping to capture Ligaowan in the future. figure.
Wu Changyou pointed out that Taiwan black bear conservation is a key business of the Forestry Conservation Department. In the future, it will continue to use community forestry and the Taiwan black bear ecological service payment plan to strengthen cooperation with tribal communities in black bear hotspots to implement habitat patrols and rescue notifications; at the same time, through promotion Improved hunting equipment reduces the incidence of accidentally catching or accidentally injuring black bears, and works with mountain village residents to maintain habitats and create a friendly black bear environment. (Editor: Guo Yuru) 1121104
