Asiatic Black Bears Adapt to Mt. Jiri

The Species Restoration Center (SRC) has been insured, so if a black bear damages a beehive, the insurance company pays for the losses. This year alone, about 40 million won has been paid to farmers as compensation for the damage caused by the bears.

The SRC has set up electric fences near 55 honey farms to keep off bears, yet the fences were not very effective in fending off the bears, for they found ways to pass through them.

SRC Restoration Team Director Kim Bo-hyun commented, "You would be amazed when you find out that the bears climb trees and jump off from there to cross 5,000 volt electric fences so they can feast on honey. There are also some bears that dig tunnels underneath the fences. Some have witnessed a bear moving a sugar-water dish in front of the beehive to somewhere far and then attacking the beehive when the bees moved toward the dish so he could avoid the stings." The sugar diluted water dishes are put in front of the beehives to feed the bees.

They were also surprised by the fact that bears used tools. When making their sleeping nests in the mountains, the bears bend bamboo nearby to sleep on top of it, and they place rocks or tie the bamboo with other twigs to keep it on the ground.

When Dong-a Ilbo reporter went to Mt. Jiri`s Pia Valley, the SRC was trying to shoot a black bear causing damage to the beekeepers with a tranquilizer dart, and move it to another location.

The SRC members said, "Jangkang 24 is nearby, please lower your voice."

National Park Service SRC veterinarian Chung Dong-hyuk, 29, and bear locator Lee Yoon-mi, 26, were quite tense.

Holding an antenna on one hand, Lee listened carefully to radio locating device.

As the signal grew louder Lee ordered in a low voice, "Jangkang is about 50 meters away, so hide behind a rock." After the sound of a few twigs shaking, it grew silent all of the sudden.

Lee sighed, "I think it got away when it knew humans were nearby. Jangkang has such quick wits that it is difficult to capture it."

Jangkang 24 is a three year-old Asiatic black bear from North Korea, which was released into the wild in July 2005. It is a troublemaker that continues to steal honey nearby Pia Valley since June. Currently there are 14 black bears that have been released into Mt. Jiri and are adapting to the wilderness. After 2004, 20 black bears of Chinese and North Korean origins have been released on three occasions, but two of them died caught in traps, and three were captured after following people for food. The 18 month-old North Korean black bear Leta`s radio signaling device was found tied to a tree in November of last year, presumed to be taken after its death in human hands.

SRC has been recently observing cautiously the movement of three year-old male Chunwang and female Nangrim 33, both living near Chunwang Peak. It has been reported that both have been living inside a 100 meter radius for about a month. Black bears are sexually mature when they are three years-old, and can bear offspring when they are four, so SRC members are speculating the possibility of both bears having mated.

The possibility is very high, since Janggunyi and Maknae, both which have been released one year ahead of Chunwang in 2002, and after being captured, have given birth to two cubs in January 2006 at the Mt. Jiri Ecological Learning Center.

With a hearty laugh, SRC Chief Kim Man-seok said, "If the bears give birth to cubs, all the trouble that we are going through right now because of the bears are all jolly problems." If released bears bear cubs, it is the first signal that they have truly adapted back to nature.

shjung@donga.com