A Level project: Bear Expert Interview

The project that i am making for A level media studies entails a 5 minute short film, an article, and promotion of the aforementioned via some social media. I figured that it would be logical if the article was a kind of companion piece to the short. And so i got into contact with the Milvus Group who have also helped me with my project last year and asked them if they have an expert on bears who will be able to give me an interview and answer a few questions. This expert was Csaba Domokos a biologist with a degree in Cinegetic management who was with Milvus Group since 2004. Further information on him can be found here: Echipa Milvus – Milvus Group. I had a total of 8 questions for him ranging form bear behavior to the effect of humans. The following are the questions and corresponding answers (Translated from Hungarian to English)

Q1:How does the interaction with humans change the life of bears (diet, Hibernation, Habitat)?

A1: "Firstly it changes their behavior. Especially when the are exposed to close interactions with humans. Or if they learn that it is easier to get sustenance when near humans. There are different personalities like with people some of them are less shy, more curious, and adapt more easily to these stressful environments like the closeness of humans. And especially when there is some benefit for them in this like getting easier or more food, or higher quality food, than because we are talking about smart and quick learning animals than they can learn extremely quickly that they can get advantages from being around roadways for example."

Q2:What is the difference between sanctuary bears and wild bears?

A2: "Here in Romania there is no place at the moment where an injured adult bear can be brought to, there is only a single shelter where adult bears could be kept, this shelter is in Ernei, but those bears will never be let go again. So only those bears can go there who will live out the rest of their lives in the shelter. There is another rehabilitation shelter but they only bring in bear cubs. There the cubs are specifically raised with the purpose of being let go later, but that is why im saying that i can't properly respond to the question because here there isn't a shelter where lets say a big bear can ever be let back into the wild after being brought in. If i remember correctly there is maybe 5 shelters in Romania one of which is owned by Milvus, but as i said earlier there is no place where an adult bear can be rehabilitated and let back into the wild after being healed."

Q3:What are the measures taken to refamiliarize injured bears with the wild?

A3: "As i said this measure is only taken with cubs in our country, and with them such measures are taken from the beginning to raise and keep them in a way for them to have no contact with humans. This facility is not open to visitors from no one. There they only take in small cubs until 6 months old at the latest and next years autumn they are let go but again during this period they never meet a person. The facility is in a large closed off forest area where the bears are in closed off group areas where they grow up together but are fed with the use of drones and such devices.'

Q4:What is the main reason for the hostility between humans and bears?

A4: "Under Conflicts we usually mean when the bears damage a domesticated animal or other kind of human resource such as the harvested plants, or if they perhaps attack a person. I personally like to separate these two cases the damage done to animals and harvested plants mean a source of sustenance for the bears and in a lot of cases aren't properly defended, in a lot of cases they encroach on the bears habitat like the edge of the forest for example when corn on fruit is planted nearby, and it is important to mention that these plantations due to their abundance are a much easier and batter source of sustenance for the the bears. Like for example if there are 500 sheep nearby which is an animal incapable of defending itself without human aid against a predator and there are dear in the forest than it is easy for the bear to decide on which one it should go after, So this is simply a more efficient way to get food from the bears perspective. The second part of the question is a bit more complicated when it comes to attacks that people underwent. I believe that in a lot of cases there are also caused by us being in the bears territory and when we have already encroached we don't know how to properly act. Because a lot of these attack could be prevented if we simply complied with a few rules."

Q5:What are the differences between bear situation in Romania vs other countries?

A5: "The meaningful difference is compared to other European countries we have bears and they just don't, this is of course self evident but still a meaningful difference. Another thing that is important to note is that the species is slowly but surely spreading across Europe and is starting to reclaim former habitats. Furthermore an important perspective is that here there have historically been a lot of bears for a long time and the people have to some extent been forced to live with this animal and this means that here there is an idea of sheep and cattle needing to be defended, with this tradition having ceased in western and northern European countries because they had no use for the tradition. And such there could be variations but it is easier than starting the co-existence efforts from 0. Also there is the number of bears as we here have significantly more than the rest of Europe where they virtually don't exist."

Q6:How do the factors that affect bears affect other animals/wildlife?

A6: "The bear is in part a well known species but on the other hand its a smart, large habitat necessitating and adaptable animal. And in a lot of cases it coexists with humans much easier than a large number of different less visible species. And if we are thinking long term than probably the biggest factor is climate change, it of course affects bears too but to some extent they are able to cope with it much easier than several other species."

Q7:What can the average person do to help the bears/the sanctuary?

A7: "This is also a good question. Well an extremely tangible thing they can do is that there are several operations and organizations that can be supported in any form im not necessarily only referring to money but also volunteering. I think the situation in Romania is vary specific because there is a vary intense media campaign against bears which has been going on for a few years now, and i think that an average person can do a lot for the interests of this species by simply looking into correct sources and by not spreading this politely known as baseless information that different media sources have perpetuated."

Q8:What are some aspects of working with bears that you would like to highlight?

A8: "Well there are a lot of interesting things in this field, it has vary complex and more and more sad problems that we for one know vary little about them despite constantly talking about bears and everybody having an opinion. As what we know and don't know about them are often times not even acquainted with the truth and there is a lot of false information which is perpetuated by many different interests that people have. At one side i am of course referring to the hunter interest which strives to highlight and enlarge the damages and dangers caused by bears and on the other hand there are animal conservationists who are looking out for the wellbeing of the animals who aren't even necessarily interested in nature and more so hiding the vary real problems that living with these animals brings. But what i am saying is that we know surprisingly little compared to how much we talk about this animal. Probably the biggest problem that we at Milvus observed is that this animal only has a future in Romania if humans tolerate them in a way that the english refer to as "Social Acceptance" and this is simply because the country isn't big enough for us to exile these animals into their own section of the wild where they can live and never have to meet people. A vary big part of bears is that they live extremely close to humans throughout the majority of the year. And this is exactly why a certain level of acceptance is necessary and we here at Milvus are stiving to build this acceptance."