2003

87-104

Finding the Key for Conserving Formosan Black Bears:

Bear-People Interactions

hwangmh@mail.npust.edu.tw

Ursus thibetanus formosanus

1998 8 2000 6
96 74 174

1972 1985
1985


(Ursus thibetanus formosanus)
Servheen et al. 1999

McCullaugh 1974 Wang

1999
1989
CITES
IUCN (Vulnerable species)
2000 10

(Wang 1999)

Kellert 1994

105,490 1985
250 3950

1998 8 2000 6
1

90%
Biernacki and
Waldorf 1981
2

qualitative

 1.

Yushan National Park study area, Taiwan, showing the oak-rich area where Asiatic

black bears congregated in the fall (Daphan) and 3 districts including indigenous 13 villages
where we conducted interviews about hunting bears.

1.
96
74
1939 2000
174
Hwang 2003

72%

11%
4%

13%

8%
72data from
Council of Indigenous Peoples, Executive Yuan, 2001

30 82 57 SE 12n 74

1314
70
1972 28
19721985 33
42 2

35

Number of bear kills

before 1972
30

1972-1985

25

after 1985

20
15
10
5
0
10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Age of hunter when he killed a bear

2. Age of bear hunters when he hunted a bear during 19392000.

2
1

2000

1992

Black 1998

Colding 1998 Hill and Padwe 2000

Cheng 1997

1992

3.
2 SE =1.7range = 19

55% 1

2.5 2.1% vs. 0.8% respectively

McLellan and Schackleton 1988Schoen 1990Benn and

Herrero 2002

Bennett
and Robinson 2000
10 3 64%

62

38%
75%25%
96%
32%
23%
11%
2%
4%

1999

48%23%

15


200 Hwang 2003

4.

65%
35%Millers and Servheen
1991

Hwang 2003

2000

5.

1
148

2000

Knight
2000
2003
2
1990 range = 5,000160,000
n 12

1992 1997

1 Bear hunters motives for hunting bears around Yushan Nation Park (YNP).
Response (n = 42)
Motives

Before the establishing After the establishing

of YNP
of YNP

Total (%)

Protection of self and property

14

48

Commercial gain

26

Heroism

17

Household consumption

10

Wang et al. 1994

1999
community-based

Benn, B., and S. Herrero. 2002. Grizzly bear mortality and human access in Banff and Yoho
National Park, 197198. Ursus 13:213221.
Bennett, E. L., and J. G. Robinson. 2000. Hunting for sustainability: the start of a synthesis.
Pages 499519 in J. G. Robinson and F. L. Bennett, editors. Hunting for sustainability
in tropical forests. Columbia University Press, New York.
Bennett, E. L., and J. G. Robinson. 2000. Hunting for sustainability: the start of a synthesis.
Pages 499519 in J. G. Robinson and F. L. Bennett, editors. Hunting for sustainability
in tropical forests. Columbia University Press, New York.
Biernacki, P., and D. Waldorf. 1981. Snowball sampling: problems and techniques of chain
10

referral sampling. Social Methods and Research 10:141163.

Black L. T. 1998. Bear in human imagination and in ritual. Ursus 10:343-347.
Chen, T-L. 1997. Integration of wildlife conservation with local community development
Sanmin and Taoyuan in Taiwan as a case study. Dissertation. University of Montana,
Missoula, Montana.
Colding, J., and C. Folke. 1997. The relations among threatened species, their protection, and
taboos. Conservation Ecology 1(1). Available from
http://www.consecol.org/vol1/iss1/art6
Hwang, M-H. 2003. Ecology of Asiatic black bears and people-bear interactions in Yushan
National Park, Taiwan. Dissertation. University of Minnesota, Twin City, USA.
Kellert, S. R. 1994. Public attitudes toward bears and their conservation. 1994. International
Conference Bear Research and Management 9:4350.
Knight, J. 2000. Culling demons: The problem of bears in Japan. Pages 143169 in J. Knight,
editor. Nature Enemies: people-wildlife conflicts in anthropological perspective.
Routledge, New York.
McCullough, D. R. 1974. Status of larger mammals in Taiwan. Tourism Bureau, Taipei,
R.O.C.
McLellan, B. N., and D. M. Schackleton. 1988. Grizzly bears and resource-extraction
industries: effects of roads on behaviour, habitat use and demography. Journal of
Applied Ecology 25:451460.
Mills, J. A., and C. Servheen. 1991. The Asian trade in bears and bear parts. TRAFFIC
USA/WWF. Washington, D.C.
Schoen, J. W. 1990. Bear habitat management: a review and future perspective. 8:143154.
Wang, Y. 1999. Status and management of the Formosan Black Bear in Taiwan. Pages
213215 in C. Servheen, C. Herrero, and B. Peyton, editors. Bears: status survey and
conservation action plan. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Wang, Y., S-W. Chu, and U. S. Seal, editors. 1994. Asiatic black bear population and habitat
viability assessment. Taipei Zoo, Taipei, Taiwan, and Conservation Breeding Specialist
Group, Apple Valley, Minnesota.
2000II

199952
1992312
.1995187

11

 Interview Guideline of Bear Hunting

Date: ___________.

Site:_ ______.

Interviewee: ________.

Interviewer: ________.

A. Demographic background
1. Address (District/ Village): __________
Phone:______________
2. Tribes: ____________
3. Age: _____________
4. Years of formal education (years): (1) less than 6, (2) 79, (3) 1012, (4) more than 12.
5. Current career: (1) farmer, (2) business man, (3) permanent labor, (4) seasonal labor,
(5) unemployed, (6) retired or disabled, (7) others:________.
B. Description of a bear hunting event
1. How many bears have you hunted?
2. For each bear hunting event:
(1) When did it occur (Year/ Month)? And, how old were you by that time?
(2) Where did it happen? Was it located in your traditional hunting territory?
How long did it take to arrive there?
(3) Who was in your hunting team? Who got involved in the bear hunting ?
(4) What did you intend to do in the forest when you started the trip? (Original intention)
How did you find the bear? (Condition)
What was the bear doing while you saw it?
(5) What were the sex, approximate weight and other characteristics of the hunted bear?
(6) How did you capture or kill the bear? (Hunting method)
(7) What was your motivation to hunt the bear?
(8) How did you process the bear harvest at the scene for transporting home?
(9) How did you use the bear parts?
(a) Which parts were sold and how much did they cost? How did you sell them?
(b) Which parts were not sold but used by your household and who also shared the
harvest?
C. Personal attitudes, perspectives, and knowledge:
1. Does the current bear population increase or decrease in areas around Yushan National
Park, as compared to that of one decade before? What are the reasons for your estimate?
2. Which variables may inhibit or/and enhance you to hunt a bear?
3. Is there any special function of bear parts?
4. Is there any legend, taboo and ritual about bears or bear hunting?
If there is, then how much do you believe?

12