03/08/2016
Last month, we were delighted to host a selection of to conservationists from Smithsonian National Zoo at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel for an exciting collaboration with Inkaterra Asociación’s Andean Spectacled Bear Conservation Center. Amongst the esteemed visitors, we were pleased to host Andean Bear curator, Craig Safoore, chief veterinarian Don Neiffer, and Francisco Dallmeier, Director of the Centre for Conservation and Sustainability at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
We are extremely proud to host four Andean Bears at Inkaterra Asociación’s Andean Bear Conservation Center, where our sole purpose is to rescue and rehabilitate the specimens found in damaged condition. The Andean Bear and the cloud forest share a symbiosis that helps conserve and extend the life of the trees and plants in these beautiful ecosystems. The bears are excellent pollinators because the pollen of the species upon which they feed gets transferred on their fur, spreading it throughout the forest to increase the vegetal life of the ecosystem.
The Andean Bears have had to survive reduction of their habitat and uncontrolled hunting by big game hunters from Venezuela to Bolivia, added to which, the bears are at the mercy of local farmers when they feed on their crops. Consequently the Andean Bear is a species in danger of extinction, which is why our experts at Inkaterra Asociación’s Andean Bear Conservation Centre are constantly looking for ways in which to protect the only bear species native to South America.
We’re excited about this collaboration with Smithsonian National Zoo which paves the way for additional progress, by helping develop a strategy of conservation, education and management of the captive and wild populations of Andean bears in the Machu Picchu Sanctuary.
We hope to mirror the Smithsonian National Zoo’s extraordinary success in breeding Andean Bears (six cubs were delivered by their female Billie Jean) by achieving similar results at our Conservation Centre’s “Semi-Freedom” enclosures, where breeding and reinsertion-into-wildlife programmes are managed.
