Among the remaining Asiatic black bears, 19 had location trackers attached, but either the batteries ran out and did not work, or the trackers were damaged or missing. The 38 are pups born in the wild by individuals released into the wild as part of a restoration project and have never had a location tracker attached.
The Asiatic black bear location tracker has a battery life of only about 2 years and can be damaged by bears tearing the tracker, so it must be replaced periodically, but replacement is not easy. This is because a bear must be captured to replace the tracker.
As the number of black bears born in the wild increases, the number of Asiatic black bears whose locations are difficult to identify is increasing, and more and more bears are dying or causing accidents due to accidents.
Of the black bears that died between 2005 and this year, 11 died due to accidents, such as getting caught in a snare.
The number of cases covered by insurance due to damage caused by black bears is 588 from 2005 to this year, and the compensation amount is 1.028 billion won (572 cases), excluding this year.
As it is difficult to continue tracking the location of Asian black bears, some argue that we must now move towards managing ‘habitat density’ and habitat.
The Asian Asiatic Bear Restoration Project began in earnest with the release of six bears introduced from Russia to Jiri Mountain in 2004 to preserve the Korean Peninsula’s ecological axis and biodiversity, and this year marks its 20th anniversary.
When starting the restoration project, the goal was to secure the ‘minimum surviving population’ of 50, and it is evaluated that the goal has been exceeded.
Academic circles believe that the optimal population in Jiri Mountain is around 56 to 78, and there are even concerns that there are now too many wild black bears.
It is pointed out that it is time to acknowledge the existence of ‘wild bears’ and seek ways to coexist.
https://n.news.naver.com/article/016/0002375340?sid=102