Asiatic black bear at Chengdu Bear Rescue Center_D. Garshelis
January 2024
_______________________________________________________________
Job Opportunity with captive bears in China
Bear & Vet Team Director
Animals Asia
Chengdu Bear Rescue Centre, China
_______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
October 2023
How do you conserve a shaggy, not very charismatic bear with an irritable personality? It’s one thing to talk about coexistence in a conceptual sense, but quite another to find ways of doing it. Sloth bears and people do not readily mix – they never have, but expanding human populations and shrinking forest habitats have made the situation significantly worse.
And so World Sloth Bear Day was born in 2022, and celebrated again on October 12, 2023. This day is aimed at increasing awareness about this species, and moving towards changing human behaviors to improve coexistence.
Events in India were led by the WCB Research Foundation and Wildlife SOS:
WCB Research Foundation information packet and video links
World Sloth Bear day, October 12, 2023 -- a time to reflect on improved coexistence with an under-appreciated species.
World Sloth Bear Day included webinars by leading experts in sloth bear ecology and conservation
July 2023: This position has been filled.
Attached below is an announcement for a rare, wonderful opportunity for someone looking to do a bear conservation-related PhD project at a prestigious university with outstanding mentors. The Smithsonian Institution and Sapienza University (Rome, Italy), in collaboration with the BSG, are offering a PhD fellowship to create updated range maps for bears in Asia. The BSG will collect the data, and the PhD student will put it all together. The aim is to create maps based on data that can be archived and updated in a repeatable fashion. Another aim is to identify important corridors and small populations that deserve conservation attention.
This will be a perfect project for someone good at GIS and spatial modeling, with a genuine interest in conservation. We are not aiming to create a model showing where bears might be (i.e., adequate habitat), but rather where bears really are.
The student does not have to be a bear expert (or even possess any specific knowledge of bears). Several BSG members will be collaborating on the project, providing expertise on bear ecology. The student does, though, need to have a good background in GIS and have modeling skills. Also, the student must have an MS degree. Preference will be given to students who are likely to continue working in Asia.
Please circulate this advertisement widely, via email and social media, especially to potential students in Asia.
Deadline for application is June 10.
