Hwang Mei-hsiu, a leading advocate in the conservation of Formosan black bears, holds a newborn cub in the Endemic Species Research Institute in Nantou, Taiwan.
Credit: AFP
The indigenous Taiwanese call her "Bear Mother" and the media have dubbed her "Taiwan's Jane Goodall" after the primatologist whose work in Africa made her a household name worldwide.
Hwang Mei-hsiu has been tracking Formosan black bears in Taiwan's central mountain wilderness for a decade, as she battles to bring the endangered animal back from the edge of extinction.
Though it began as a doctoral dissertation, researching the bears has led the 37-year-old to the most remote and isolated regions of the island and at times has put her in life-threatening situations.
"To study bears I have to capture them alive to gather first-hand information, and people thought it horrifying for a girl to chase bears," says the slim, energetic and eloquent biologist.
Hwang first studied the mongoose in Taiwan and then U.S. bears for her doctorate, which she received from the University of Minnesota in 1996. She's now an assistant professor at Taiwan's National Pingtung University Institute of Wildlife Conservation.
Ambitious yet impractical
To most people, including skilled indigenous hunters, her research seemed ambitious - yet impractical - due to the rarity of Formosan black bears (Ursus thibetanus formosanus), also named moon bears after the pale yellow crescent across their chests.
There is no official figure on the number of black bears that have survived many years of hunting and natural disasters in Taiwan. But conservationists such as Hwang estimate there are only a few hundred at most left in the wild.
The conservation worker and her small team - which includes indigenous guides - began tracking the bears in 1998, knowing that traces of the animal's existence had been found in coastal and central mountain forests.
She earned her bear trapping stripes in Minnesota, where she stalked them in Voyageurs National Park, but she soon discovered the task was more challenging in Taiwan.
"In the U.S., bears struggle less when trapped - but here bears seem to know that death awaits them once they encounter humans and they fight for their lives to get away," says Hwang.
After a two-week mountain stakeout in October 1998 - during which she endured a typhoon and rough living conditions - Hwang became the first researcher ever to capture the bears in the wild and fit them with radio transmitters.
"It was an extremely exciting and nerve-wracking moment. I worried for the safety of the team and the bear," she recalls, as she describes how the first black bear she trapped fought viciously, roaring and jumping at her, as it shook off half a dozen anaesthetic needles, before finally being subdued.
The 1.5-metre-tall female - named "Dilmu" for bear in the aboriginal Bunun language - had lost a paw in what Hwang believes was an abortive poaching attempt.
Bogus medicine
In 1989 Taiwan banned the hunting of Formosan black bears, a subspecies of the Asiatic black bear.
The Formosan black bear is categorised as endangered in Taiwan while the Asiatic black bear is listed as vulnerable by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
Asiatic back bears are found right across Asia from Taiwan, Vietnam and India all the way to Russia. But the total population of the species is estimated at less than 50,000.
Despite the government ban, experts believe poaching continues because a bear can fetch up to US$4,500 (AUS$5,600) on the black market.
"The misconception that a bear's paw is a delicacy and the gall bladder [produces] a precious medicine is deeply rooted in Chinese culture," Hwang says.
She cites an old saying that "one cannot have fish and bear's paw at the same time" - which refers to a traditional belief that fish and bear's paw are both delicacies. "Old habits die hard."
Before the hunting ban, bear's paw could be found on the menus of local 'bushmeat' restaurants touting dishes made of wild and rare animals from the mountains.
Bile, cruelly and painfully syphoned from a bear's gall bladder, is used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine for alleged "detoxing and calming effects," though there is little evidence to back this up.
Under Taiwan's Wildlife Conservation Law, the hunting and killing of protected animals carries a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to one million Taiwan dollars.
Despite this, Hwang says her team proved poaching was still rampant in the Taiwanese mountains when eight of the 15 bears they caught between 1998 and 2000 in the Tafen area of Yushan had lost a paw - or at the very least several toes.
"They lived in the back country where most aboriginal hunters would not go, but still they couldn't escape the misfortune," said Hwang, who also co-chairs the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Asiatic Black Bear Expert Team.
Profile raising
She believes that her work is vital to raising the profile of the bears so that Taiwanese people are made aware of its plight.
"I think if Taiwanese people are unmoved by the fact that the black bears are on the verge of extinction, what would it matter to them? But I don't believe Taiwan is a cruel and hopeless place. I believe people can reject bushmeat and help stop poaching."
"There is still a chance to save the black bears from nearing extinction. I have to speak out to draw public attention to the bears, to create an inner voice in people that tells them to help conserve the endangered animal."
Hwang notes the recent public frenzies surrounding the appearance at Taipei zoo of king penguins and koalas, and says she hopes the Taiwanese would develop as much appreciation for their local wildlife.
"Many people know pandas are endangered, but they know very little about the protected animals in our own country. People should be more concerned about local animals instead of worshipping the imported ones all the time."
As dangerous as bear-chasing sounds, the most frightening moment Hang has yet had to face, was actually when she was hit by a falling rock and slipped down a cliff in December 2000
"This reminded me to be humble in front of Nature and how fortunate I was that I hadn't run into serious trouble before in the wilderness." Luckily on that occasion, she was rescued by her Bunan guide Ison Lin.
From mountains to book deal
Hwang's hard work in the mountains is eventually paying off however, as alongside her completed dissertation, she has now published a book on her bear-chasing journey. The Conservation and Research of Formosan Black Bears web site that Hwang has set up, also receives hundreds of hits daily.
Local media have also acknowledged her accomplishments by dubbing her "Taiwan's Jane Goodall" - but Hwang shrugs off the comparison.
"I think anyone who is in my line of work is a Jane Goodall and I don't want to flatter myself, I want to walk my own road."
Another rewarding part of her mission was the approval and acceptance of the indigenous Taiwanese who she says have selflessly helped her work in the mountains.
And Hwang has been given the name "Ali Duma" (Ali is the name of a folk hero and duma means bear) by Bunun elders and is fondly referred to as "Bear Mother" by the community.
Hwang says she plans to continue her research on black bears in Taiwan's mountains for many years to come.
"There is still a long way to go to conserve black bears. I am doing whatever I can and it would only get worse if nothing is done," she says. "I am making a difference already, and there is hope that I can make more."
Amber Wang is a writer with AFP in Pintung, Taiwan
