[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 6 Feb: Since its inception in 2001, the Centre for Bear Rehabilitation & Conservation (CBRC), situated at the Pakke Tiger Reserve in Pakke-Kessang district, has rehabilitated 60 bear cubs so far.
This was informed by CBRC in-charge Dr Panjit Basumatary during a meeting of the CRBC held at the PCCF office here on Tuesday.
The CBRC is the country’s only Asiatic bear rehabilitation facility. It is a joint venture of the state’s environment, forest & climate change department and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI).
Dr Basumatary said that five bear cubs were rehabilitated at the CRBC from 2022 to 2023. “Out of the five, four have successfully gone back to the wild, while one of the cubs died during rehabilitation,” added Dr Basumatary.
Besides bear cubs, the CBRC is also involved in rescuing various wildlife species from different corners of Arunachal. A total of 23 rescue cases were handled by the CBRC in 2023.
The meeting, chaired by PCCF & HoFF Ngilyang Tam, was attended by senior officers of the department, representatives from the WTI, the director of the Pakke Tiger Reserve, the director of the Biological Park, Itanagar, and other forest department officials.
Discussions were held also on other conservation issues, including wildlife crime, and it was strongly recommended that wildlife crime prevention training be imparted to the frontline forest staffers.
The WTI, in collaboration with the Pakke Tiger Reserve, is also carrying out a bear occupancy survey in Pakke to assess the population of bears in the reserve.
During the meeting, it was also decided to sensitise the Hollongi airport authorities to wildlife trade and trafficking.
