民家からクマの赤ちゃん１６頭保護　ラオス

【バンコクＡＦＰ＝時事】ラオスの首都ビエンチャンでこのほど、民家で飼われていたツキノワグマの赤ちゃん１６頭が保護された。（写真は、ラオス・ビエンチャンの民家から救出されたツキノワグマの赤ちゃん）
　ＮＧＯ「フリー・ザ・ベアーズ」によると、１６頭が発見されたのは先週初め。１頭は既に死んでいた。
　保護されたのは雄１０頭、雌６頭で、体重１．３～４キロ。生後２～４か月とみられる。
　フリー・ザ・ベアーズは、「クマの赤ちゃんは非常に弱い。自然環境では母グマが赤ちゃんを置き去りすることは絶対にない。おそらく、母グマは密猟者に殺されたのだろう」と話す。
　ＮＧＯトップのマット・ハント氏は、「２０２４年に入ってまだ３か月しか過ぎていないが年間の保護頭数では、今年は既に過去最多となっている」と述べた。
　フリー・ザ・ベアーズによると、近隣住民から、クマの赤ちゃんの泣き声がするとの通報が警察にあった。これまでにラオス人１人が拘束されており、警察は住宅所有者の特定を進めている。
　赤ちゃんたちは、ルアンプラバンにある野生動物保護区に移送される。
　ツキノワグマは、国際自然保護連合がまとめる「レッドリスト」で危急種（ＶＵ）とされている。
　アジア地域では、ペットまたは伝統薬に使う胆汁を取るため、数多くのクマが飼育されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/03/25-17:00）

Sixteen undernourished Asiatic black bear cubs have been found in a home in Laos capital Vientiane by a conservation charity, the largest rescue of the year.
The clutch of cubs, also known as moon bears after the white crescent of fur across their chests, are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of endangered species.
Across Asia, thousands of the animals are kept as pets or farmed to extract their bile for use in costly traditional medicine.
Wildlife conservation charity Free the Bears said they found 17 cubs in the private home in Laos early last week, but that one of them had already died.
When we arrived at the house there were bear cubs everywhere, said Fatong Yang, animal manager with the charity.
The group found ten males and six females, weighing between 1.3 to four kilograms and believed to be around two to four months old.
Cubs this small are extremely vulnerable. In the wild their mothers would never leave them and we suspect the mothers were killed by poachers, Fatong said in a statement over the weekend.
Charity head Matt Hunt said the organisation would have to bring in experts from Cambodia to cope with the number rescued, surpassing a 2019 mission when five cubs were saved in the country's north.
This is the most bears we've rescued in a single year and we're only three months into 2024, he said.
Free the Bears said that police were alerted to the house after a neighbour heard the cries of one of the cubs.
One Laotian person has been taken into custody, the group said, while police continue to search for the owner of the property.
The cubs have been transferred to Luang Prabang Wildlife Sanctuary, Free the Bears said in a statement, where they will be bottle-fed and closely monitored.
Hunt added that they were so happy sixteen of the seventeen are alive and have a second chance to live a life free from fear and suffering.