Written by Maryam Ghadiri Khanaposhtani
December 2011. A shocking video from Iran of a Brown bear with her two cubs has been published on the web; the mother has been killed and the two cubs, which have both been maimed, are crying in pain and terror. The brutal attack, which happened near the Iranian city of Samirom in Central Iran in early September, shocked and angered a great many people. The body of the dead mother bear and the pathetic cries of the cub make this a very disturbing video.
Brown bear, the largest carnivore in Iran, is listed by the IUCN as "least concern" on a global scale, but its population in Iran is decreasing due to habitat destruction, poaching and shortage of prey.
Beside financial pressure, local superstitions about medicines that can be obtained from bears' body parts, especially cubs, motivate many rural people to hunt this precious and defenseless animal.
In Iran, environmental activists, NGOs and animal support groups have all protested about this dreadful and shameful incident, and even local people of Semirom declared their extreme discontent. The poachers have been arrested.
Brown Bears in Iran
The brown bear is distributed across the north and west of Iran, mainly within The Alborz and Zagors Mountains. The Alborz Mountains holds a larger population of bears with an estimated population of 500-1000 bears. The present population is decreasing in Iran, mostly due to numerous conflicts between bears and the human population across its range. It is thought that several dozen bears are killed by poachers every year to stop these conflicts, and also by poachers trading in bear products.
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/iran-bear.html
No comments:
Post a Comment