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Black bear program to
continue: group
HARD SELL: The Taiwan Black Bear Conservation
Association has raised less than NT$1 million, with NT$500,000 from a former
minister and NT$200,000 from corporate donations
By Tung Han-ni and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Members of the Taiwan Black Bear
Conservation Association pose for a group photograph with elementary school
students in Greater Kaohsiung on Friday, during an activity to raise -awareness
of black bear conservation.
Photo: Tung Han-ni, Taipei Times
Activists who work for the conservation of
the Formosan black bear, an endangered species indigenous to Taiwan that is
often used as a national symbol, have pledged to push ahead with an educational
initiative designed to enhance public awareness of the animal, despite
fundraising difficulties.
Referred to by many as the ¡§Mama Bear¡¨ ¡X a rough translation of the name ¡§Ali
Duma¡¨ given to her by Aborigines ¡X Hwang Mei-hsiu (¶À¬ü¨q) decided to devote
herself to black bear conservation about 15 years ago.
Despite years of hard work and advocacy, Hwang has yet to eradicate such
long-standing threats to the bear¡¦s existence as poaching and trading.
An associate professor at National Pingtung University of Science and
Technology¡¦s Institute of Wildlife Conservation, Hwang established the Taiwan
Black Bear Conservation Association in 2010 to promote public education on the
endangered species.
This year, the association had planned to roll out an educational program in
hundreds of Aboriginal communities and elementary schools in mountainous areas,
in an effort to help foster an emotional bond to the Formosan bear and emphasize
its endangered status.
However, the plan, which had been scheduled to start in September, has been hit
by a fundraising setback that has forced the association to lower its original
funding goal from NT$5 million (US$171,100) to NT$2 million and halve the number
of schools it plans to visit, Hwang said.
Despite months of effort, the conservation association has raised less than NT$1
million, with NT$150,000 coming from the royalties on Hwang¡¦s books and
NT$500,000 from former minister of Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission Chang
Fu-Mei (±i´I¬ü).
Donations amounting to NT$200,000 have come from corporate sponsors, with small
contributions from members of the public amounting to about NT$100,000, Hwang
said.
The association launched the educational initiative out of a strong sense of
passion and a conviction that the single-minded devotion of civic environmental
groups would attract support and recognition from the corporate world, Hwang
said.
¡§However, to our surprise, the association¡¦s first fundraiser did not go
smoothly,¡¨ she added.
Undeterred by the turn of events, Hwang has vowed to launch the education
initiative as scheduled, saying there is ¡§nothing more urgent than safeguarding
the well-being of the black bear.¡¨
¡§If we cannot afford hotels, we can just sleep on the floor. At least we can
check transportation off the list because an automaker has offered to provide us
with a vehicle,¡¨ she said.
Historically, black bear conservation has been more a -matter of slogans than
action, Hwang added.
¡§Only by teaching the younger generation, particularly those who grow up in
mountainous -areas, about the importance of conservation and the environmental
predicament facing wildlife, can a long-term solution be found resolve the
problem,¡¨ she said.
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