Category Archives: bear

Colorado’s Urban Bears, Interim Report

Posted on by
Reply

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) biologist Heather Johnson recently gave an interim report on her five-year black bear study to the state Parks and Wildlife Commission, the Durango Herald reports.

According to the CPW website, the study is intended to gather more information about the increase in conflicts between black bears and humans in the state. Does the increase reflect black bear population trends, or a change in behavior? To that end, the website says, the study:

1) tests management strategies for reducing bear-human conflicts, including a large-scale treatment/control urban-food-removal experiment; 2) determines the consequences of bear use of urban environments on regional bear population dynamics; 3) develops population and habitat models to support the sustainable monitoring and management of bears in Colorado; and 4) examines human attitudes and perceptions related bear-human conflicts and management practices.

One and a half years in, Johnson has found that female black bear behavior of the 51 collared bears she tracks is highly variable. One collared female never left a three block area in Durango, another wandered for 200 miles.

Up next is an experiment comparing conflicts in an area with bear-proof trash cans to one without the cans. That experiment will begin in the spring.

Read more about the study in the Durango Herald, here.
Read brief discriptions of CPW’s black bear research, here.

Photo: Heather Johnson, courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Drought Impacts

Posted on by
Reply

The drought continues, particularly in the West, but the wildlife impact being most noticed and reported is bears coming into developed areas searching for food.

The New York Times discussed the situation, with vivid anecdotes. A Colorado State University Extension web page gives an overview on drought impacts as part of a package of drought information, with half of the info on bears. A Mother Nature Network story went beyond bears. It provides links to specific stories on drought impacts, such as one on waterfowl in USA Today and a Wyoming Star-Tribune piece on pronghorn.

The pronghorn piece mentions the impact on hunting, but the waterfowl article does not. Farmers tilling under crops early this year or not harvesting them at all, will create confusion for waterfowl hunters who may find that field they always hunted in off limits this year because of baiting regulations. This press release from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources explains some of the issues.

Be Bear Aware in May

Posted on by
Reply

The California Department of Fish and Game sent out a press release reminding people to act responsibly in bear country, and offered tips for bear-proofing a camp site. The New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife is offering a free DVD of an hour-long documentary entitled “Living with New Jersey Black Bears.” Another press release was issued by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

May is “Be Bear Aware” Month. Other activities include Bear Awareness Week at the Detroit Zoo, which features polar bears and seems to be a little outside of the original theme for the month, which has a focus on safety.

The bear-themed month appears to be the brainchild of the Center for Wildlife Information. There was even a Congressional declaration about four years ago, proclaiming May as bear awareness month.

The state of Alaska declared its bear awareness week to be in April.

California Department of Fish and Game press release.
New Jersey Division of Fish & Game free bear DVD announcement.
Center for Wildlife Information’s Be Bear Aware info.
Detroit Daily Tribune story on the Detroit Zoo’s bear awareness week.
Connecticut DEEP press release.

Photo: Black bear, courtesy of the California Department of Fish and Game.

Disease Round-up: Rare, Rabid Bear; Desert Fox Distemper Spreads & more

Posted on by
Reply

Canada goose in AlabamaRabid bears are “almost unheard of” in the eastern half of the United States. After all, transmission is typically through the bite of infected animal, and what’s going to bite a bear?

Apparently something bit a black bear in Albermarle, Virginia, because after it attacked a man, it was tested and found to have rabies.

This is gotten more coverage since, but the first article I saw on this was on GoDanRiver.com

In the Mojave Desert, an outbreak of canine distemper in desert kit foxes near a solar power installation is spreading, with dead foxes found 11 miles from the original site. Read more in the Victorville Daily Press.

We’ve written about this distemper outbreak twice before. Read the first post here. The second post, with possible causes, is here.

And while we just posted news about bullfrogs spreading chytrid fungus between continents a few days ago, yet another study shows that geese — both escaped domestic and Canada geese — can spread chytrid fungus between water bodies, either as they migrate, or simply as they visit ponds and lakes in their own neighborhood.

Read the article in ScientificAmerican.com
Or read the scientific paper with the findings in PLoS ONE.

Photo: Canada goose in Alabama, by Gary M. Stolz, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Oregon and Florida Propose Bear Plans

Posted on by
Reply

Black bearThe first update to Oregon’s bear management plan in 14 years was announced late last month. Most of the bears killed in Oregon last year were hunted, an article in the Oregon Mail-Tribune reports:

1,772 bears were killed statewide, with 1,346 of them killed by sport hunters and another 352 bears killed as a result of damage incidents, the draft states. Along with the 22 bears killed over safety complaints, another 52 died as a result of miscellaneous categories such as roadkill, accidental death or poaching.

The plan is expected to be approved in June.

Read the Oregon Mail-Tribune article, here.
Find a 60-page PDF of the draft management plan from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, here.
Read the ODFW press release, here.

Florida has revised its draft black bear management plan after receiving 2,500 public comments on the original draft of the plan. The plan will remove the species for the state’s list of threatened species. It will also create seven black bear management units. This plan is also expected to be accepted in June.

Read an article in the Palm Beach Post News.
Read the Florida Wildlife Commission press release, here.
Find the draft management plan, here.

Photo: Black bear, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

March Roundup of New Research

Posted on by
Reply

Spring is here and a bunch of wildlife surveys are underway around the country.

In Delaware:
-It’s the fifth and final year of the Delaware Breeding Bird Atlas.
-A special effort is being made in 2012 to tally owls as part of the atlas.
–Horseshoe crabs are being tallied again, and volunteers are being trained.
-The annual osprey count is offering a volunteer training for the first time since 2007.

Maryland is two years in to four years of surveys for an amphibian and reptile atlas and is looking for volunteers.

In Kansas, they are searching for lesser prairie chicken breeding areas, or leks, from the air with helicopters. Field crews will train on March 29-31 and conduct official survey work across all of western Kansas until the middle of May. The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism is also asking people to report leks. The survey is part of a five-state effort, and the survey technique will be evaluated.

In North Dakota, the Game and Fish Department has launched a two-year study of white-tailed deer in intensely farmed agricultural areas.

In Maine, biologists at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife have visited up to 100 dens each winter for 37 years, making the survey in the nation’s oldest radio-collar monitoring program for bears. This year the Maine Sunday Telegram wrote a story about it, with lots of pics. Read it here.

And in Washington, commuters have been reporting wildlife sightings for over a year on the I-90 corridor in anticipation of road improvements. The project’s first annual report was released recently, generating articles in the Everett Herald  and The Seattle Times, and coverage other media.

Photo of I-90 Wildlife Watch billboard by Paula MacKay/Western Transportation Institute, used by permission.

4th International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop

Posted on by
Reply

Didn’t make it to the sold-out 4th International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop, that started on March 20 and ends today in Missoula, Montana? The Missoulian has a brief round up, aimed at general readers. (Who knew that round doorknobs could be such a successful bear deterrent?)

If you want more info on human-bear conflicts, an excellent summary of the 3rd International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop (November 2009) is on-line.

More on the conference from the Missoulian: an article on a presentation on electricity (fences, mats) as a bear deterrent. Read it here.

Photo: Black bear courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

New Research on Avoiding Bear Attacks

Posted on by
1

Bear researcher Tom Smith of BYU“If you act appropriately and you carry bear spray, you are much better off than just blundering into bear country with a large firearm,” said Brigham Young University researcher Tom Smith in a university press release.

Smith has a paper out in early view in the Journal of Wildlife Management that details the findings of his research into bear attacks in Alaska. He believes his findings apply to bear attacks elsewhere too.

The research confirms some old tips (such as “hike in a large group”), but also has some findings that may be controversial regarding guns versus bear spray — a particularly important topic now that guns are allowed in national parks.

As reported in the Jackson Hole News & Guide, people carrying firearms were more likely to be injured by a charging bear than were people carrying bear spray. The amount of bluff charges against both people carrying either firearms and bear spray is reportedly equal. Apparantly, what happens during the bluff charge is key. And firing a gun seems to drive the bear into a real attack.

Smith says in two different newspaper interviews that when it comes to avoiding injury in bear attacks, it’s not which firearm you carry, but how you carry yourself.

Read one BYU press release with lots of tips through EurekAlert, here.
Read a BYU EurekAlert press release that focuses on debunking bear spray myths, here.
Read the Jackson Hole News & Guide article on the study here.
Read the article in the Billings Gazette, here.
Journal of Wildlife Management article here (fee or subscription required)

Photo: BYU bear biologist Thomas S. Smith published a study on the effectiveness of bear spray for deterring aggressive bears. Here he is pictured with an unconscious “mother” polar bear – “If she were conscious, she’d be holding me,” Smith said.  Credit: Thomas S. Smith

Bear Hunts

Posted on by
Reply

Last week the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced that it would go ahead with its black bear management plan, as well as with the plan to remove the animal from the state’s threatened species list. (Read the press release here. For the management plan itself, go here.) Florida has seen an increase in black bears, which has fueled speculation that the Commission might allow bear hunting in the future, a point mentioned in this article in the Tampa Bay Newspapers.

As black bear populations grow in the East, discussion of hunting as a management tool is prevalent. This NPR story on bear population increases in the Appalachians addresses the issue. Earlier this winter the desire to have fewer bears in suburban areas in New Jersey was contrasted with the desire of some not to kill any bears. Read one of the many stories covering the controversy at NJ.com.

Photo of Florida black bear cub courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Bear Hunts

Posted on by
Reply

Last week the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced that it would go ahead with its black bear management plan, as well as with the plan to remove the animal from the state’s threatened species list. (Read the press release here. For the management plan itself, go here.) Florida has seen an increase in black bears, which has fueled speculation that the Commission might allow bear hunting in the future, a point mentioned in this article in the Tampa Bay Newspapers.

As black bear populations grow in the East, discussion of hunting as a management tool is prevalent. This NPR story on bear population increases in the Appalachians addresses the issue. Earlier this winter the desire to have fewer bears in suburban areas in New Jersey was contrasted with the desire of some not to kill any bears. Read one of the many stories covering the controversy at NJ.com.

Photo of Florida black bear cub courtesy of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.