著者

Huygens Oscar C. Goto Mitsuaki Izumiyama Shigeyuki Hayashi Hidetake Yoshida Toshio

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.3, no.2, pp.97-106, 2001-07

被引用文献数

4

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Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) depredation levels remain high in Japan even though over 1, 000 nuisance bears are killed annually, and an additional 1, 000 bears are killed during the hunting season. Nuisance activity includes damages to trees, crops, orchards, apiaries, fish farms, and other property. Landowners experiencing bear damages request hunter assistance. Hunters then set cage traps to catch and kill nuisance bears, and legally sell the parts, especially the gall bladders, of the bears they killed. We promoted non-lethal methods to reduce Asiatic black bear depredation in Nagano Prefecture from 1995 to 2000. Hunters were the most reluctant to adopt non-lethal methods to reduce depredation ; landowners were somewhat reluctant ; and municipal officials were the least reluctant. Hunter financial and emotional rewards for killing bears were large. Landowners were not actively involved in the protection of their property because they lacked know-how and resources, and because hunters offered an easy alternative. Reducing long term depredation may require the prefectural government to : (1) lead an aggressive and sustained campaign to teach landowners how to avoid conflicts with bears and to reinforce the fact that the systematic killing of nuisance bears has failed to reduce long term depredation in the past ; (2) encourage and finance widespread use of preventive methods such as the removal of bear attractants, the planting of crops that are not attractive to bears in areas at risk, electric fences, and the protection and restoration of broadleaf forests rich in bear foods ; and (3) change or remove the financial incentives linking the killing of bears to the protection of property. Furthermore, a national bear gall bladder tagging system would allow the monitoring of the legal national trade in bear parts and would help monitor annual bear kills.

著者

Huygens Oscar C. Hayashi Hidetake

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.3, no.2, pp.115-129, 2001-07

被引用文献数

2

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The government of Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, financed research in 1992 and 1993 to document Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) ecology, density, and population parameters throughout the prefecture. The prefectural government published the methods and results of this research in 1994, followed by an Asiatic black bear management proposal in 1995. However, most of the research methods used were not adapted to the credible documentation of bear ecology, density, and population parameters. Consequently, most of the results obtained and the management proposal are of dubious value. In Nagano Prefecture, municipal governments are entrusted with the management of the bears within their jurisdictions, limiting input from the prefectural government. Nevertheless, the Nagano prefectural government should not finance flawed bear research nor propose a bear management plan based on such research. A responsible bear management plan should be based on scientifically obtained data. We use existing literature to point out flaws in the research methodology used in the prefecture and to suggest alternative methods. We wish this commentary to be constructive and hope it will encourage sounder bear research in the prefecture and throughout Japan in the future.

著者

Huygens Oscar C. Goto Mitsuaki Hoshino Toshio Koyama Masaru Tokita Eiji Hayashi Hidetake Yoshida Toshio

出版者

「野生生物と社会」学会

雑誌

Biosphere conservation : for nature, wildlife, and humans (ISSN:13446797)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, no.1, pp.37-41, 2001-12

被引用文献数

2

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Regular monitoring of bear (Ursus spp.) populations is important to ensure that conservation policies are appropriate. Although population estimates may be less ambiguous than population trend estimates, they are more difficult and expensive to obtain. Bait station surveys are commonly used in North America to monitor bear population trends. We tested sardine bait stations as a monitoring tool for Asiatic black bear (U. thibetanus) populations in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, in summer and fall 1999 and in spring 2000. We established 341 sardine bait stations in five study areas. Eighteen (X^^-=5.45%; range=0-10.8%) bait stations were visited by bears and 21 (X^^-=6.36%; range=0-17.8%) were visited by non-target animals, and 11 were discarded due to data collection concerns. In the only area we tested during three seasons (Northern Japanese Alps), we obtained the highest (8.3%) visitation rates in summer, the lowest (4.5%) in spring, and intermediate rates (5.6%) in fall. These visitation rates are too low to be a reliable indicator of bear abundance.