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RUSSIA

Bear Cubs In Russia:

The Russian winter bear hunt leaves in its wake, hundreds of orphaned Brown bear cubs. Wealthy trophy hunters from Russia, Europe and America pay an average of USD 2500,00 to track Brown bears to their forest dens. Dogs flush out the bears for the hunters to kill. When the target is a hibernating mother, the cubs are either abandoned to freeze to death, are given as props to street photographers, or as pets to local villagers. When the bears become too big and boisterous to handle, they are often killed. Brown bears eat berries as part of their diet Now the bear cubs are getting a second chance, thanks to the IFAW-funded Clean Forest Biological Station, a bear orphanage in the village of Bubonitsy.

Biological station "Chistyi Les" or "Orphan Rehabilitation Center" is situated 500 kilometres to the North-West of Moscow. IFAW has been supporting the project since 1996 and the results are impressive:

Currently the biological station "Chistyi Les" is a settlement of six buildings, some of them with running cold and hot water and sewerage. On IFAW grants, 2 cars for transportation were purchased.

New-born bear cubs usually arrive at the project in January - February each year. They are bottle-fed with milk for two - three months,before they are moved to the nearby forest. There they stay in an open air enclosure with a wooden hut, where they can hide at night or in case of danger. The gates of the enclosure are open most of the time, so that the bears can investigate and feed in the forest and fields.The older they grow, the larger territories they investigate. In summer and autumn they feed on various plants, rowan berries and oats.

If the bear cubs gain enough fat and are ready to survive in the wild, the Pazhetnovs release them into protected nature territories - nature reserves or preserves at the age of 7-8 months. Sometimes the bear cubs, who have spent too much time with people before they arrived at the biological station, cannot be released the same year and stay for the winter.

There are four people working at the project.Three of them - Valentin Pazhetnov, his wife Svetlana and his son Sergey work directly with the bear cubs. They feed them, treat them in case of illness, wash them and do everything necessary for their growth and rehabilitation. These three persons are interchangeable in case someone has to leave the biological station for several days. Valentin and Svetlana Pazhetnov

Professor Pazhetnov is a well-known scientist in the field of animal behaviour. He is often invited to lecture at schools, universities museums and public libraries. He writes articles for scientific journals, as well as popular magazines. In his public speeches and articles he often describes the "Orphan Bear Cub Rehabilitation Project" and speaks about IFAW's support principles and goals.

Sergey, his son is now working on his Ph.D,on results of the bear cubs release into protected territories. Both Valentin and Sergey spend a lot of time on design, construction and maintenance of buildings, enclosures and cages.Recently they are busy with the licensing of a larger protected territory, surrounding the biological station. Lusya Pazhetnov, Sergey's wife, executes educational activities with the local population, schoolchildren, and visitors to the summer ecological camp.

In February 2001 IFAW supported the functioning of the "Orphan Bear Rehabilitation Center" and the following undertakings:-

The Pazhetnovs finished the construction of and equipping of the "Laboratory House", intended for bear cubs aged 0 - 2 months old, when they are too small to survive in the cold den-house in the forest. Beforehand, the bear cubs of this age lived in an old shabby house, where it was difficult to maintain a stable temperature and the kitchenware was in the same room with the bear cub boxes.
The new Laboratory House consists of two separate parts with independent entrances. One of them is meant only for bear cubs,and the other one for making food for them, storage of medical and other supplies as well as other auxiliary activities. Thus, the bear cubs are isolated from contact with people, sounds and smells of human activities.
During the period when the bear cubs are already in the forest, the premises can be used for scientific work, data processing and training of the specialists in animal rehabilitation.
A new 4 wheel drive vehicle, Niva 2329 pickup was purchased for the project. As the car is intended for the transportation of newborn bear cubs in winter and 8 months old bear cubs, from the Rehabilitation Center to the nature reserves in summer, it had to be specially equipped. A specially designed car body to isolate bear cubs from contact with people was ordered. It was insulated and equipped with an air-conditioner to maintain the required temperature. The car is modern and powerful, resulting in a shorter time for bear cub transportation, for their release into the Bryansky Forest Nature Reserve (700 kilometres from Pazhetnovs), from 15 hours to 8 hours.
In 2000, Pazhetnovs worked out a new design for the transportation cages. Previously, used cages were made of mesh,the bear cubs felt themselves exposed and unprotected, were nervous and could be wounded physically and psychologically. New transportation cages are made of wood and have a small window as well as a ventilation hole. The bear cubs are much calmer and don't cry anymore.
In December 2000 a new modern, efficient and fast snowmobile, "Taiga 500" was purchased for the project. The bear cubs that cannot be released during summer and stay for winter, usually hibernate in dens which they build several meters from the Biological Station or sometimes even farther. It is important to protect the territory from hunters, stray dogs and wolves. Patrolling should be done at least 2-3 times a week, and every day in early spring, when the bear cubs wake up from hibernation. Without a snowmobile it took several hours to get to the dens in the deep snow. The snowmobile allows the expanse of the patrolled territory.
The Pazhetnovs legalised the surrounding area of the Rehabilitation Center, 3500 hectares as a nature reserve. Previously only 300 hectares around were protected territory. As from April until the moment of release in July - August, the bear cubs move free in the forests. The older they get, the larger the territories they master. It is necessary to protect them from hunters, and their habitat from unauthorised tree felling.
On the territory of the Nature Preserve the Pazhetnovs sow several oat fields, for the bear cubs to feed on. Oats are the main food for bear cubs in summer and autumn, when they have to gain enough fat for winter.Other wild animals and birds feed on oat fields as well. Sowing of oats takes a long time, as the Pazhetnovs have only an old tractor, which is often out of order.
With IFAW support, 3 houses were equipped with running water and sewerage. This has saved time for them to work with the bears. Previously the settlement had only one well with opaque and probably polluted water. Now there are 2 bore holes with pure water. This made it possible for the installation of washing machines to wash bear cubs nappies. Besides, time-consuming activities connected with visits from journalists, specialists from other rehabilita- tion centers and IFAW staff activities and tasks, are now fullfilled much easier. Modern sewerage has also minimised the pollution pressure on the environment.
The Pazhetnovs do a lot of work with their own hands. It saves money and besides, it allows them to achieve the necessary results. IFAW helped the Pazhetnovs to purchase modern tools for metalwork and carpentry. Planes, drills, fretsaws and other tools and instruments are very helpful to build new and repair old enclosures, cages and houses for the bear cubs.
Bears rescued: At present, there are 7 newly arrived and 3 older bear cubs at the Orphan Bear Rehabilitation Center. Two of them,females, arrived in February 20, 2001. They were brought by hunters who said that they were walking in the forest, when an adult bear left the den and ran away. The hunters checked the den and found two small bear cubs. When the bear cubs arrived at Pazhetnovs, they were 40 days old and weighed 1.5 kilograms. They are bottle-fed 5 times a day with warm milk and have successfully increased in weight. From time to time the Pazhetnovs bath them, as in the wild the mother bear cleans them by licking. The bear cubs spend their time mostly sleeping, but before feeding they are active. Then they crawl and try to walk. Two bear cubs, Kuzya and Kasyan, have spent more than a year at the Orphan Bear Rehabilitation Center. Last summer the Pazhetnovs decided not to release them into the wild, as the bear cubs were relatively weak and not ready to survive on their own.
In autumn 2000, the bear cubs built a den near the Biological Station, and now they are hibernating there. In summer 2001 the Pazhetnovs plan to radio tag them and to release them into the nature reserves. Thus the Pazhetnovs will be able to trace the fate of released bears and to study their behaviour in the wild, out of contact with people.
In December 2000, IFAW's Russia office was contacted by a businessman, having trouble with a young bear, living at his house. The businessman received the 1 year old bear cub, named Gosha, as a birthday present from a friend, who purchased a wild bear cub in Georgia(former Soviet Republic, situated in Caucasus). The bear cub was tranquilized with an injection and brought to Moscow by plane. In his apartment Gosha was very active and nervous, he was ruining the furniture and produced a lot of mess! When the bear cub bit the businessman's wife, the family decided to get rid of him. Sergey Pazhetnov came to Moscow and took the bear cub to the Biological Station, where he was put in an enclosure with a wooden box with some straw inside, imitating a den. As the bear cub overreacted to people and it distracted him from falling asleep, the Pazhetnovs stopped only 100 metres from the enclosure. As he is not yet hibernating, his future is unclear, though Gosha has a good chance of survival, as he is in good condition physically and hasn't got used to people. If Gosha survives, Professor Pazhetnov considers it expedient to release him back to Georgia, not to mix genes of different populations.
Educational and enlightenment activities at the Center:
Prof. Pazhetnov gives many lectures at schools, colleges and libraries in the Tver region. In the History Museum of Toropets, the nearest town, the Pazhetnovs have a permanent exposition, dedicated to the bear rehabilitation project. The exposition shows the IFAW logo and includes information on IFAW's support for the project.
For the past 3 years, the Pazhetnovs have held a summer ecological school - camp for school children. In the year 2000, it ran from 25 June to 15 July. Eighty children, 12 to 15 years old, lived in tents on the shore of a lake 3 kilometres from the Biological Station. For the camp, the Pazhetnovs built an open-air dining hall, a kitchen, a toilet and a wooden roof over the "classroom". Local people from the nearest villages volunteered in this construction.
Every day the children were read lectures and had practical field work in survival in nature, without causing harm to the environment.
Valentim Pazhetnov was lecturing on animal ecology, Sergey - on the endangered mammal species, Svetlana - on botany and orphaned bears rehabilitation, and Lusya - on endangered species and protection of their habitats. All lectures addressed the importance of animal welfare, humane attitude to nature and environment protection.
On 19th October 1999, The Bear Group SA, Donated R 3400,00 = USD 544,00 towards the bear sanctuary run by Professor Pazhitnov.

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