Let’s make it a two-fer on black bears.

This spring, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources began a two-year study of urban bears in three cities. The West Virginia Gazette-Mail has the details. The West Virginia effort began last year and is part of a region-wide effort. Urban bears are also being studied in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

More details about the Pennsylvania study are available here:
ABC27
Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader
Some results of last year’s study in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (second half of article)
The Game Commission brochure about the study (downloads a 2-page PDF).
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I couldn’t find anything specifically about the New Jersey portion of this study. As previously reported here, New York State will be doing work on black bears in developing areas.

There have been many urban/nuisance black bear stories in the news this week. Mostly, it’s been “black bear spotted…” on golf course, in neighborhood, etc. This attack in New Hampshire was the most serious. (From the North Andover Eagle-Tribune). Read the NH Fish and Game press release.