Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

The 2009 International Symposium on Conservation of the Asiatic Black Bear, an event jointly sponsored by the Taipei Zoo, the Endemic Species Research Institute of the Council of Agriculture under the Executive Yuan, the Forestry Bureau, Yushan National Park Headquarters, the National Taiwan Normal University, and the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, took place at the Taipei Zoo on November 17th and 18th. The 2-day event brought the chairperson of IUCN Bear Specialist Group as well as experts and scholars from 15 countries together with domestic black bear researchers in thesis presentations and academic seminars pertinent to the conservation of Asiatic black bears in recent years. This symposium was billed as the most significant of such meetings in nearly a decade.

One of the largest carnivores in the Asian region, the Asiatic Black Bear is currently listed by the majority of countries as a protected species as it faces habitat destruction and active hunting, in which several nations including the Republic of China, South Korea, and Pakistan, have even listed it as an endangered species subject to active conservation.