The Last Remaining Specimen of the Syrian Bear in Lebanon Disappears

16 November 2006

The Syrian Bear

The last remaining specimen of the Syrian Bear Urus Arctos Syriacus fled from the Animal Encounter, a center that works on reintroducing and conserving wildlife in Lebanon. The Syrian Bear was first described in 1826 in North Lebanon and was last recorded in 1958. Animal Encounter had recently brought a specimen of the same specie from Turkey in the aim of reintroducing the animal.

The animal was still being kept in captivity but he would be let out occasionally for grazing. But hunters, who managed to exterminate the specie from the start, kept harassing the bear around the Animal Encounter Center until they drove it away.
“He was grazing as usual and he never leaves the whereabouts of the cage, but as soon as he heard the shooting, he fled,” said Monir Abou Said Animal Encounter Founder and President.
Pending funding, Abou Said was going to attempt mating the specimen to increase their number. But he was still not sure of the Bear’s capacity of survival in the wild.
“The positive thing about this whole thing is that if this bear survives this experience, then it means that we can reintroduce it to Lebanon,” said Abou Said.
The Syrian Bear specimen has been missing for three weeks now, Abou Said and other environmentalists are actively searching for the bear and have communicated news about his disappearance and appeals to find him in the media.

“We still have hope to find him but with the mentality of hunters in this country it’s probably better to be hopeless,” Abou Said said with a discouraged tone.

 
For more information, please contact Hala Kilani hala.kilani @iucn.org