Research :: Education :: Community Outreach

Research

Conducting research in Peru’s northern dry forest is an important component of our work. However, we believe to be successful at spectacled bear conservation it is important that we educate the local communities, inform national agencies and the national government (INRENA) and contribute valuable scientific data to international scientific organizations such as the International Association for Bear Research and Management.

In late 2006, while conducting informal searches for bear sign in the Peruvian dry forest in and around the Laquipampa protected area, we discovered a population of bears that displayed an unexpected degree of tolerance to human presence, making it possible to observe them for long periods of time. Their characteristic unique facial markings made it possible to identify, and thus monitor individual bears during observations. We chose this area to initiate a long-term study using visual observations in combination with remote cameras set at water holes and GPS collars. Our primary objectives are to:

1. document aspects of life history and behaviour
2. determine seasonal use of habitats, food resources and water holes by bears
3. use visual observations, cameras, and various types of field sign, for conducting both larger-scale distribution surveys in other parts of the dry forest and site-specific mark re-sight population estimation

Education

When SBC began in 2006, it was thought that it would be advantageous to send our two fulltime field researchers to Canada for training. During their five months in Canada they participated in black bear research, developed and presented material on spectacled bears for school children and university students, and became proficient with computers, remote digital cameras, GPS’s, and other necessary field equipment. Now back in Peru, they are able to train our local part-time field researchers and volunteers and participate in environmental education at local schools.

In 2008 we began fundraising so SBC will have the resources to develop and implement workshops and conduct more school visits in communities throughout the dry forest of Northern Peru. Our long term goals is to develop a full time program that delivers a range of interactive presentations educating residents about the role of large carnivore in a healthy ecosystem. We would also like to conduct teacher training through a series of workshops that empower teachers to conduct local community action projects and employ the environment as a classroom, thus fostering pride and enthusiasm for protecting their local environment.

Community Outreach

Hunting is threat to the spectacled bear in this region and is one of the major causes of population reduction of this species. Local inhabitants kill bears for diverse reasons, including subsistence hunting, fear of the animal, protection against attacks to livestock and occasionally the illegal traffic of bear parts and live specimens. Spectacled bears are hunted for their meat, skin, fat and claws, and occasionally their gallbladders used for traditional oriental medicine. SBC continuously monitors the black market in Chiclayo (approximately 60km from study site) and has always found a continuous supply of bear parts. Moreover, there is insufficient institutional and legal capacity for controlling hunting pressures. The loss of only a couple of spectacled bears could be detrimental to isolated populations in the dry forests.

The SBC staff and volunteers began working with the association of cattle ranchers ‘El Cebu’ to educate them on predators and becoming more effective at protecting their cattle against them and to reduce hunter access to prime bear habitat via their land. Often if hunters were unsuccessful at killing wild animals they would settle for free ranging cattle. In 2008, SCB together with the members of the cattle ranchers association constructed a 10km barbed wire fence closing the only easy access to our study area and their private land. A large gate was constructed so the cattle ranchers and SBC researchers could still access the area by vehicle. Signs were placed at heavily hunted areas informing hunters that they were trespassing on private lands and that it is prohibited by law to hunt spectacled bears and other wild animals.

Our two full time field researchers live on the outskirts, in a small town at the foot of the Andes in the dry forest desert of northern Peru. Their home is a two-room adobe mud house without electricity, furniture or clean water. The difficulties and poor conditions of their day-to-day lives became apparent very early on. When SBC first began senior field researcher Javier Vallejos was returning home frequently from the field due to incidents of poor health and sickness in his family. In 2008, it became become necessary to separate the family, sending the three youngest together with the older sister to stay with relatives in the mountains, away from the intense heat and pollution found at the lower elevation.

Before the water system they had intermittent access to a water supply via a hose that came directly from the irrigation canals. This water was contaminated with pesticides and chemical fertilizers. When the water was available, pails and bowls were filled with not always enough water to even supply their daily basic needs.

SBC was able to raise enough funds to purchase and install a water filtration system that was powered by Solar Energy. This system can filter the smallest particles such as pesticides and provides enough clean water for the daily needs of both immediate and extended families. In addition to the water treatment system the Vallejos family now also have a couple of lights inside their home.