Bears in the Backyard

A report on the website for Audubon includes details to expand black bear hunts in a variety of states:

Nearly 30 states across the nation have a fall black bear hunting season. As black bear populations have increased—along with bear/human incidents—some states are considering expanding the number of hunting permits allotted to take the creatures. For the first time in five years, New Jersey is considering a state-approved bear hunt. On the opposite coast, California proposed changes to broaden where and how the omnivores can be hunted.

The last time I tuned in on Lily, the black bear with a webcam outside her den, a bunch of balsam boughs were blocking the view of her. The time before that, she appeared as a sort of dark blob. But you know what? That’s not stopping me from looking in on her, and plenty of other people feel the same way.

Lily is an Internet sensation, as thousands of people around the world are hoping to witness her giving birth to cubs.

You can check out Lily at Wildearth.tv, or you can read any of the scores of articles being written about her, including a recent one from the Telegraph. Dr. Lynn Rogers, the well-known bear researcher who is working on the den-cam project, is apparently hoping the cameras will change people’s views of bears.

“The public has a very negative feel about bears, but a bear like Lily can help turn that around,” he told the Telegraph. ”They are feared, but the perception of them being fearful creatures is built by media and myth.”

A 700-pound black bear is reportedly breaking into Lake Tahoe homes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

A gigantic, bullet-scarred black bear with a hankering for human food and a knack for breaking and entering has been terrorizing homeowners on the north shore of Lake Tahoe and deftly outmaneuvering gun-toting rangers, bear dogs and traps.

I’ve read about bears breaking into homes, but this one, well, must be setting records:

Wildlife officials have tried everything, but the food junkie apparently knows a bear trap when he sees one, shakes off bullets like they were mosquito bites, and keeps coming back for more. ”He’s busted into probably 40 or 50 homes,” said Carl Lackey, a bear biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

A Q&A in Backpacker magazine answers a reader’s question about what to do in the case of aggressive behavior from a mother bear.

The question came from Joe Whittle, whose bear encounter was recounted at his blog.

Here’s the gist of the advice:

Mother black bears rarely respond like mother grizzlies, which have a strong maternal protection instinct and likely would’ve attacked you in response to aggressive tactics in such a close encounter. Instead, black bears typically snort, stamp their feet, and bluff charge in an effort to scare you away—all of which you witnessed—but rarely attack. A return aggressive display on your part, followed by a calm exit, both reinforces a negative association with humans and allows both parties to escape without contact.

Fred J. Aun, writing in The Star-Ledger, states the obvious: The election of Republican Chris Christie as governor makes a bear hunt a lot more likely. Gov. Jon Corzine opposed the hunt, and Christie seems a lot more conciliatory toward hunters. Aun says a restored bear hunt “would be a big deal mainly because the bear hunt, more than any other issue, brought to the fore the divide in New Jersey between pro-hunting-and-fishing wildlife conservationists and the anti-hunting (and, sometimes, anti-fishing) animal-rights contingent.”

But hold on a minute here… Is this really an accurate portrayal of things? That the hunters are “wildlife conservationists” and those against bear hunting are simply an “animal-rights contingent”? The return of bears to New Jersey is an amazing story, and it didn’t happen because of hunting; it happened, in part, because of a lack of hunting. Sure, the story is far more complex than that, but plenty of people, myself included, remain wary of the idea of a bear hunt in New Jersey. And being wary of a bear hunt doesn’t mean we’re part of any anti-hunting contingent.

That’s what wildlife authorities want to know.

The authorities say a female bear was found dead on Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Concordia Parish on Sunday, Dec. 20. The bear was identified as one of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) research bears equipped with a transmitter collar.

The bear was shot, making it the fourth illegally killed bear on a WMA to date for the 2009-10 hunting season.

“The loss of another adult female in her prime is a significant loss to bear recovery,” noted state wildlife secretary Robert J. Barham. “Setbacks like these are not only frustrating and costly, but they may also delay removal of the Louisiana black bear from the Endangered Species List.”

Uh, isn’t it clear why you shouldn’t feed bears?

Seems that way to me. I can think of a few reasons: it’s unsafe to you; the bears may come to rely on you; and it’s bad for the bears.

Case in point: A man allegedly got hurt by a bear by feeding it in Florida, and now he’s in trouble with the law and the bear was trapped and killed by authorities.

Black bears, a protected species in Texas, may be making a comeback there, according to a newspaper report.

The report in the Courier of Montgomery County says bears used to be common in the area: “In the 1800s there is documentation that a good hunter could harvest perhaps a hundred in his or her lifetime. But from 1950 until about 2000, they were rarely seen in east Texas.”

And now they may be traveling over from Louisiana, or maybe Arkansas or Oklahoma: “Estimates on the number of black bears in East Texas vary. Some say as few as 20 are currently roaming this part of the state. Others say there could be as many as 100.”

South Korea is trying to reintroduce Asiatic black bears, and here’s a great video—thoughtful commentary, lots of historical context, and awesome photography—about attempts to reintroduce Asiatic black bears.

Plenty of states have policies to euthanize bears after they break into homes, or attempt to do so.

That’s just what happened to a bear near Shreveport, Louisiana, as well as one in Veneta, Oregon.

About the Oregon bear:

State wildlife officials determined that because the bear was hanging around a house and knocking open a door, the bear was a potential threat to human safety.

The meat from the “carcass was salvaged and donated to help feed the hungry,” according to the story.