BLACK BEARS - Wildlife officials say more could appear in Durham

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Current News : One Thread

News & Observer

Saturday, June 23, 2001 5:19 p.m. EDT

Wildlife officials say more bears could appear in Durham

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Residents should probably get accustomed to life with black bears, wildlife officials said this week after one bear was killed by police and two more were spotted in the city.

"The good news is that North Carolina's black bear population is increasing," said Derb Carter Jr., senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill. "But that also means it's likely there'll be more of these encounters with humans in the future."

On Thursday, Durham police officers shot and killed a 200-pound male bear in the backyard of a home on Omah Street. The next day, two black bears were spotted behind a house before disappearing into the woods near Guess Road.

"One would hope this would be a lesson for us to be better prepared to use nonlethal methods for dealing with them in the future," Carter added.

The Police Department will conduct a formal critique of the shooting next week, inviting a representative from Animal Control to attend.

The state's Wildlife Resources Commission had advised Durham police to leave the bear alone, and an animal control officer was on the way to the scene with a tranquilizer gun at the time of the shooting. Spokesman R.C. Spivey said police shot the bear when it started to walk away and police had no other way to contain it.

"Knowing the officer involved, I'm sure it was not something he wanted to do," Spivey said, referring to Sgt. J.R. Cleary, who shot the bear. "It was a last resort."

Carl Betsill of the Wildlife Resources Commission said his agency generally recommends that police allow the animal to move through a residential area instead of cornering or trapping it.

Gilles Meloche, head of the Durham County Animal Control Department, said he was upset to learn the bear had been shot three times with a shotgun.

"When I saw the poor dead bear yesterday, I said, 'How come?' " he said Friday, adding that the bear probably didn't show aggression.

But he added, "Maybe they were right to shoot. I don't know. I wasn't there."

Some residents have been critical of the shooting.

"I just think it was handled wrong," said Marion Taylor, who lives four houses away from where the shooting occurred. "He wasn't bothering anybody; he was just hungry."

The next day, two bigger bears were spotted nearby.

"They're looking for that baby," said Gerald Hairr, who said one of the bears threatened him Friday as he was working on his boat. "I think they'll come back until they find that baby."

On Friday, wildlife officers set up traps to capture the remaining two bears.

The Eastern black bear is the only species in the state, Betsill said. There are an estimated 6,000 bears in the coastal area and about 4,000 mountain bears.

Yearling male bears, born in late January or early February of 2000, are transient this time of year because their mothers will no longer tolerate them around their new cubs.

As a result, the males will establish new territories, ranging as far as 80 to 100 miles from their birthplace and increasing the chance of encountering people, Betsill said.

Frank van Manen, a wildlife biologist with the Southern Appalachian Research Center at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, said bears and people can coexist if people are willing to be reasonable.

"Coexisting with bears is possible," he said. "It might mean small changes like not leaving dog food on the porch -- things we can fairly easily deal with. But there might also be some cases representing a threat to humans, and the public might need to think about whether to destroy a bear that poses a safety risk."

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2001

Answers

There HERE...NE OHIO on the news stations the other night. I dreamed about it last night....Dreamed I went out to the barn and between the house and the barn was a black bear cub......crying for its momma, the horses were like statures, (as they get to sniff the air before fight or flee kicks in) I knew momma bear was angry looking for baby, and my dog Abbie come tearing past me and attacked momma bear....I woke up. (Shades of Old Yeller)

So even though the media say we have nothing to fear, I live in very heavily wooded area, and I think this is Playing on my mind. the news says there are coming from western PA...like cooks forest and other state parks.

And then there is the cyotes......got ammo? (ONLY....ONLY.....ONLY...if me or mine is in danger!

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2001


Are there things you can do to keep them away? Like marking your territory with urine? Or maybe hanging some noise makers that they don't like?

Obviously you want to make sure there is nothing for them to eat around your yard, right? Like, no honey pots sitting out...

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2001


I am very careful about leaving food out, there is grain in the barn, but under lock and key, and the other part is right next door is a honey bee operation, and 2 farms on the other side of me has honey bees. needless to say, I have NOT been in my woods this year@!

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2001

The Durham paper had some good advice but I can't find it online now. If you should encounter a bear, back away slowly, speaking in a soothing voice. Do not run, do not allow your pet to threaten it. If the bear rears up on its hind legs, that means he's curious and trying to get a good look; it's not usually a threatening posture. If he seems agitated, he probably is. Black bears are basically vegetarians, but do like fish and will eat small mammals. (Yes, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.)

About the only thing you can do to discourage them, as Barefoot said, is keep your garbage cans secured. And do not shoot Baby Bear, it really pisses off Mama Bear and Papa Bear.

Someone tipped me off that Mama and Papa had been seen and didn't appear pleased. They wanted me to get my folks over there PDQ so the parents wouldn't be shot too. Luckily, the TV station had a helicopter in the air at the time and was over the scene in minutes. The paper was there in 10 minutes. I also called Chapel Hill Animal Protection (which knows a bunch about the humane treatment of wildlife problems); they IMMEDIATELY got on the radio and offered help to Durham--they were there in 20 minutes. (That's where the traps were borrowed from.) Another deterrent!

This time the police departmnent did the right thing; they left the bears alone. They will move on eventually, through patches of wooded area, until they find a fairly remote place to live.

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2001


Heard on the am news today, a black bear had to be shoot in or near youngstown....was going into a kiddies pool!

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2001


I worry a lot more about the coyotes -- they like to eat house cats. Brrrrrrrr!

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001

We find out now that the bear was in fact a cub that weighed 130lbs. There was no reason, aside from sheer damn ignorance, to shoot that animal.



-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001


"Are there things you can do to keep them away? Like marking your territory with urine? Or maybe hanging some noise makers that they don't like?"

The California State Department of Fish and Wildlife is advising hikers, hunters, fishers, and golfers to take extra precautions and keep alert for bears while in the Yosemite, Mammoth, and Tahoe areas.

They advise people to wear noise-producing devices such as little bells on their clothing to alert but not startle the bears unexpectedly. They also advise the carrying of pepper spray in case of an encounter with a bear. It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of bear activity.

People should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear droppings. Black bear droppings are smaller and contain berries and possibly squirrel fur. Grizzly bear droppings have little bells in them and smell like pepper spray.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001


Ya know, it's great to have a rotten memory cos I had forgotten that one! You really got me all the way up to the last line! ROTFLMAO!

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001

I was intending to change the references to North Carolina, but I didn't want to stir up your blood sugar.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2001


Moderation questions? read the FAQ