If You Can Bear It
If You Can Bear It
By Barbara Tufty
Bear with this bear story—the official state animal of West Virginia!
Do you have a bear problem? Has something big, black and furry raided your garbage can recently? Knocked down yourbirdfeeder? Clawed through your beehive? Peeked in your kitchen window?
Don’t worry. They’re not after YOU--–they’re black bears, just roaming around their mountains, hungry and curious. Once they hear you or see you, they turn tail and quickly disappear into the woods again. Wildlife researchers are finding that, contrary to what people used to think, black bears are actually quite timid and gentle animals. They want no confrontation with us humans, any more than we with them.
But bears are turning up more frequently around human places nowadays. Why? Because we are moving into their territory, building our houses and roads deeper into the forests and mountains that were once their domain. We’re crowding them out of their dens, cutting down their acorn and hickory nut trees and building over their berry patches.
In the past few years the bear population in West Virginia has been drastically increasing. In 1980, for instance, only 47 bears were reported killed by WV Park rangers. But in 2003, West Virginia hunters scored a state record of 1,654 bears killed (I dislike the ingratiating word “harvested.”). Today, estimates of black bear populations throughout the state of West Virginia range from 12,000 to 15,000! Gary Strawn, WV Department of Natural Resources, estimates that we might have about 20 bears living with us in Morgan County.
The growing numbers of bears have resulted in increased numbers of telephone Calls to the WV Division of Natural Resources., reporting bear sightings and growing problems of bear damage and nuisance. Fortunately, wildlife biologists and park rangers have learned a lot about bears and their behavior and know how to minimize or avoid potential problems. Black bears are basically quiet, solitary creatures, growing to be about six feet long. They are good swimmers and like to climb trees. They cannot see very well, but they have an extremely keen sense of smell and hearing. Winter is the time when they retreat to their cave or hollow tree den to sleep through the cold snowy period when their food provisions run low. Some people call their sleep hibernation, but this is not correct. Bears curl up in a ball to conserve heat and, unlike the true hibernators like chipmunks and groundhogs, go into a light sleep. Their heart rates drop and so do their body temperatures, but they can be easily aroused, and ramble from their den in search of a snack to eat or drink. During January and February the females give birth to two or three cubs about as big as your fist. By mid-March the cubs’ eyes are open and they weigh about three or five pounds. When the berries ripen in summer they weigh about 20 pounds and by winter they have gained some 30 or 40 pounds. The next year, the yearling cubs are starting to wander out on their own, feeding on bears’ diet of blueberries and huckleberries, grasshoppers and beetles, as well as fish, frogs, mice and birds eggs. They often begin snooping around nearby human habitations, scrounging in garbage cans, pawing through trash, and unabashedly accepting any food from admiring humans who are thrilled to see a real bear! Their behavior is based on a mixture of curiosity, hunger and inexperience. They have not learned yet to fear humans,---and that is what can create problems with us.
“Cubs, as well as adults, who have not been taught to fear humans are quick to associate people with food,” said Gary Strawn. “In order to keep them from coming too close and bothering you, it is important that you help them maintain their inborn fear of humans. Don’t offer them food, no matter how cute you may think they are.” To keep your own distance from them, pick up all your trash around the yard, uneaten food materials and other refuse and pack it away in tin or bear-proof garbage containers. Decaying animal and vegetable matter produce strong odors and also need to be disposed of properly.
Bears coming too close to human farms can wreak damage on corn crops, breaking and smashing stalks, especially when the corn is young and sweet. They love it in the milk stage. Apple, peach, and grape orchards are visited by bears leaving broken trees and branches. Our neighbors had no damage done, and still love to tell the tale of looking out the window one evening and seeing a bear amble across their garden to their peach tree, carefully select several ripe peaches, eat them, and then lumber off-–no damage to the tree, and a lot excitement for them. They had never seen a wild bear so close. Building electric fences around crops have proven effective, but is quite expensive for any large area. Exploding cannons, shell crackers, fireworks, flashing lights, blasting loud radio music or talk shows can keep bears away from your berry patch for a while--although the animals can become accustomed to these devices. They are quite smart species and learn to become more tolerant of human activities.
If you are surprised by a bear while walking by yourself , “Don’t panic,” says Gary Strawn. “Stand tall and clap your hands—but don’t threaten him. He’ll soon disappear. Bears sometimes try to bluff you and start toward you, but not for long.”
Bears, those pigeon-toed, lumbering creatures, have been interacting with humans for many centuries. Some of the earliest relics of Cave Bear jaws and claws date back to the Ice Ages, when we humans used to live in caves too. Bears in the Middle Ages were captured, forced to “dance” at the end of a chain, and fight each other for the amusement of spectators-- now denounced as cruel illegal torture. We find bears in ancient legends throughout the world, carved and venerated in totems of the Native Americans, recorded in journals as pioneers pushed across our country, retold in hunters’ tales around the campfire. Children’s books are filled with bears—Goldilocks, and Winnie the Pooh have been beloved by generations, and teddy-bears are still being lugged and hugged by kids into their fur wears off.
Throughout the world, there are eight species of bears–the brown bear which includes the immense ferocious grizzly, the quiet recluse American black bear (our own West Virginia mascot), Asiatic black bear, polar bear, giant pandas of China, sloth bear, spectacled bear, and sun bear. Many are suffering from the effects of habitat destruction and from brutal hunting and outrageous poaching for the Eastern medicinal trade. Bear gallbladders and bile are used and abused as so-called “traditional medicine” to treat a variety of illnesses, and enhance virility (we now have a chemical product).
Most bears, but not all, are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that prohibits international commercial trade of bear parts. Many countries ban the sale of bear parts, but still poachers continue to break the law.
In West Virginia special licences are required, with specific rules for hunting black bears during the autumn season. For instance, it is illegal to hunt bears by using bait, to hunt with certain types of shotgun, rifle, or muzzle loading pistol. Specific bows and arrows only are allowed. It is also illegal to hunt bear between a half hour after sunset and a half hour before sunrise; to kill a cub bear weighing less than 100 pounds; or to kill any bear accompanied by such a cub. Another regulation states that each licenced hunter can kill only one bear per year, and within one hour he must complete and attach a game field tag bearing his name and other information.
Whether the sight of a black bear alarms you or thrills you, remember it is the official state animal of West Virginia, voted to this honor 50 years ago in a four-year poll of students, teachers, and sportsmen taken by the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources.