1st BSG Sloth Bear Expert Team Meeting Sets Stage for Coordinated Research and Conservation

摘要

The first-ever formal meeting of the Bear Specialist Group's Sloth Bear Expert Team (SLBET) was held March 8 and 9,2018, in Bannerghatta, India. The meeting was sponsored by Wildlife SOS (WSOS) and held at the Jungle Lodge, a 5-minute drive from the WSOS Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Center in the Bannerghatta Biological Park, bordering Bannerghatta National Park in the state of Karnataka. SLBET Co-chairs Nishith Dharaiya and Harendra Bargali worked closely with WSOS Co-founders Kartick Satayanarayan and Geeta Seshamani to plan the details of the meeting. The idea for the meeting was conceived during the IBA meetings in Quito, Ecuador, in November 2017, after a discussion with BSG Co-chair Dave Garshelis and attending members of the SLBET. The meeting was viewed as a precursor to a later workshop to develop a rangewide Conservation Action Plan for sloth bears (Melursus ursinus); this is now an IUCN/SSC mandate for all threatened species.