On July 30, the Giant Panda National Park Administration announced that in the bee farm of the Guanba Watershed Nature Reserve in Pingwu County, Mianyang Administration Branch, an infrared camera was installed to capture the complete picture of Asian black bears stealing honey. The whole process continued for nearly 20 minutes, it stole about 7.5 kilograms of honey.
On August 1, the reporter learned that this is not the first time that black bears have come to steal honey. Since 2018, black bears have come to the bee farm to steal more than 300 boxes of honey.
According to the person in charge of the aforementioned protection community, in recent years, as protection has increased, black bears and their habitat have been effectively protected.
The probability of infrared cameras capturing black bear cubs is increasing year by year, and the living environment is getting better and better. The frequency of black bears in villages is also increasing every year.
Three year old black bear
According to the staff of the bee farm in Guanba Watershed Nature Reserve, Pingwu County, they discovered that the beehive was destroyed and the honey had been stolen on July 28. They immediately thought that it must be a black bear that had come to steal the honey again. The infrared camera captured the whole process of the “Bear Kid” committing the crime.
The video was taken in the early morning of July 28. In the video, a little black bear was lying on the beehive, looking left and right. After confirming safety, he climbed to the ground along the iron fence, then stood upright and started to eat honey. However, because the beehive was equipped with a steel door, the black bear first grabbed the steel door with its upper limbs and shook it outwards, but it was unsuccessful, so it bite and pulled it out, doing everything it could, but it was useless. Finally, the black bear put his front paws into the beehive and licked it with his tongue. After a lot of effort, he finally managed to steal the honey. The whole process lasted nearly 20 minutes.
According to the staff, it is not the first time that black bears have come to bee farms to steal honey. In 2018, they ate more than 140 boxes, in 2019 they ate more than 160 boxes, and this year they have eaten more than 40 boxes. In order to prevent the honey from being eaten stolen, the bee farm installed steel doors outside the hives.
Black bears appear more frequently in villages
According to Meng Ji, the person in charge of the Guanba Watershed Nature Reserve in Pingwu County, this black bear is about 3 years old in terms of body size and ate about 7.5 kilograms of honey that night.
So why is the black bear obsessed with stealing honey?
According to Meng Ji, it is midsummer, and the berries in the forest are very rich. Black bears do not lack food. They steal frequently because honey itself has higher energy than other foods. Honey is very popular with black bears, they can easily obtain a large amount of honey in the bee farm and cannot resist the temptation.
In recent years, with increasing protection efforts, black bears and their habitats have been effectively protected. The probability of black bear cubs photographed by infrared cameras is increasing year by year, which indicates that the black bear population is increasing and spreading in Guanba, the living environment of black bears is getting better and better, and the frequency of black bears in villages is also increasing every year.
It is understood that the protection mode of the Guanba Watershed Nature Reserve in Pingwu County is to carry out the whole area protection in Guanba Village as the main body. The infrared camera has been installed so far that 29 species of species have been photographed, including 17 species of beasts and 12 species of birds, including Sichuan golden monkey, giant panda, black bear, golden pheasant, blood pheasant, burgundy red finch, etc.
In recent years, Pingwu attaches great importance to ecological protection. The habitat of giant pandas and their companion animals in Pingwu County has been maintained in a good environment. The number of wild animals has increased and the number of “causes” entering human production and living areas has also increased significantly.
For this reason, in accordance with the idea of “insurance by government departments, compensation by insurance companies, and benefits for the victims”, Pingwu took the lead in launching public liability insurance for wildlife damage in the province at the end of 2017. The trial has so far settled a total of nearly 700,000 yuan in compensation, including honey compensation, nearly 200,000 yuan.
