Six out of eight species of bear threatened with extinction

SIX out of the eight species of bear in the world are threatened with extinction, conservationists warned yesterday.

The world’s smallest bear, the sun bear, is classed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of the Threatened Species following a new assessment by specialists.

The bear, which lives in south-east Asia, Sumatra and Borneo, was previously listed as “data deficient” because not enough was known about the species.

It has now been assessed as vulnerable because of threats posed by commercial poaching and habitat destruction due to deforestation.

The sun bear has been included on the 2007 Red List following a meeting of the bear specialist group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in Mexico last week, in which the status of the seven terrestrial bears was updated.

The giant panda remains endangered, despite efforts in China to ban logging and introduce nearly 60 reserves and widespread reforestation programmes.

The sun bear joins the Asiatic black bear, the Andean bear and the sloth bear, which lives in Asia, as vulnerable on the 2007 list.

Only the American black bear is secure throughout its range, while brown bears are not listed as threatened on the Red List because of large numbers in Russia, Canada, Alaska and parts of Europe.

However, the grizzly bear (brown bears in the interior of the US) are considered threatened under the US Endangered Species Act outside Alaska.

The polar bear, which is distinct from the seven terrestrial bears as it is considered to be a marine mammal, was listed in 2006 as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Dave Garshelis, co-chairman of the bear specialist group, said: “Although the bear population estimates for Asia are not as rapid as we would like, we estimate that bears in south-east Asia are declining at a particularly rapid rate due to extensive loss of forest habitat combined with rampant poaching.”

Rob Steinmetz, co-chairman of the specialist group’s sun bear expert team, said: “Although we still have a lot to learn about the biology and ecology of this species, we are quite certain it is in trouble. We estimate that sun bears have declined 30% over the past 30 years (three bear generations) and continue to decline at this rate.”