A Blackhawk helicopter of National Airborne Service Corps, Ministry of the Interior, transported the “Nan-An Cub” back to its home in the wild today (30th).
Last year (2018) in July, a stray cub of black bear, an endangered species native to Taiwan, was found close to the Nan-An Waterfall in Hualien. Upon its discovery, the cub was estimated 4 months old and weighed only 4 kg, far too young and weak to survive the wild on its own. The Hualien Forest District Office had a meeting and decided to ship the cub to the Low Altitude Experiment Station of the Endemic Species Research Institute, Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan for 8 months of care. Now the cub has restored its health and strength. It has grown to 43 kg and went through the feral training, ready to go home to its wild habitat.
The Forestry Bureau conservation unit considered that it would take days to transport the cub to its wild habitat by land and manual labor. For such a trip, the cub had to be carefully tranquilized but there was a risk of suffocating due to tranquilizer-induced vomiting. Also, it would take a few weeks to charter a civilian helicopter, which was impossible for the tight releasing schedule. At the end, the National Airborne Service Corps was approached for support with a Blackhawk helicopter for the transportation.
The Blackhawk took off in the morning (30th) from Hualien to pick up the cub and the release crew at Wushikeng, Taichung before flying over the Central Mountains to the destination habitat where a waiting crew of specialists took over the cub for the subsequent release.
The cub was sedated and transported in a carrier cage during the flight and a veteran on board to monitor its conditions. The sortie was in fact a high-altitude takeoff and landing training / cub transportation for the NASC helicopter crew and it went perfectly well. The cub was airborne for 38 minutes.
This is the first time in Taiwan a wild bear cub was rescued, taken care of and taught by human instead of the mother bear for survival in the wild before being released. It is iconic for the wildlife conservation in Taiwan and the Airborne Service Corps is proud to be a part of it. The Corps is always ready to help with wildlife conservation in mind.
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