Black bear's paw amputated after trap injury in Miaoli

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) A Formosan black bear had its paw amputated after being rescued from a trap in an area just outside Shei-Pa National Park where the species had never previously been sighted, the head of the park's management headquarters said Friday.

Shei-Pa National Park Headquarters Director Lin Wen-ho (林文和) told CNA that the bear was found in a forest compartment on the outskirts of the park in Miaoli County, and personnel were dispatched to the site along the Xuejian Simaxian forest trail after the incident was reported.

Lin said that in the past, records of Formosan black bears appearing near the park have been limited to areas such as Daxueshan and Guanwu, adding that there had never been any reports from Xuejian.

According to the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency's Hsinchu Branch, it was notified by the park headquarters' Xuejian Management Station on Wednesday that a contractor had discovered a Formosan black bear caught in a snare on the downslope at the 19.5-kilometer mark of the Simaxian forest trail while inspecting water supply pipelines in the area.

After confirming the location, the Hsinchu Branch immediately launched a rescue operation together with Xuejian station, it said, adding that the injured bear was later transported to the Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute's wildlife emergency station in Nantou County for treatment.

The branch said the trapped bear was a subadult male weighing about 31 kilograms. Due to a severe injury to its left forepaw, the wildlife rescue station performed wound debridement and amputated the paw on Thursday.

The bear is currently in a stable condition, and its recovery will be monitored and assessed to determine whether it can be released back into the wild, the branch said.

The Hsinchu Branch also warned that the range of Formosan black bear activity has been expanding into areas more frequently visited by humans, urging residents in mountainous regions as well as campground operators to strengthen food, garbage and food waste management to prevent bears from being attracted to human settlements.