Tragic days for bears in Iran

On Saturday, the head of Iran’s Environment and Wildlife Watchdog announced that an Asian black bear had been killed in a traffic accident in southern Iran. Keyvan Hoshmand told the Mehr News Agency that the bear was hit by a heavy truck in the city of Rodan in Hormozgan Province on Friday night and died while trying to drag itself away from the road. He said immediately after the report of the incident, a veterinarian and ranger were sent out to the scene, but they found it dead. TEHRAN,June 1(MNA)-- Asian black bears are on the list of IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and no official figure about the remaining of the species is available. In another mishap for the wildlife, which this time was intentional, a female brown bear with her cub were found killed in Sefid-Kouh Mountain in the western province of Lorestan. “Unfortunately, once again illegal hunters caused another bitter event by mercilessly killing a female brown bear with its cub,” Hoshmand said on Friday. He said after it was reported that a bear had been killed in the protected region of Sefid-Kouh Mountain rangers were sent to the region and found the body of the bear and its cub. Hoshmand said the bear and its cub had been killed 15 days ago and their bodies had been eaten greatly by carrion-eating animals or birds. He said the rangers who were inspecting the region noticed another cub of the bear which had survived the killing by hiding itself. Kamran Farmanpour, director of the Environment Protection Organization in the city of Chegeni in Lorestan province, said cubs at this time of the year are three-month old and they desperately need their mother to feed them and protect them from dangers. “We hope the cub can continue its life in the nature without the help of its mother,” Farmanpour said. He added the person who has killed the bear and its cub has been identified but he is on the run.