use caution around black bears after recent incidents

[Lee Borgersen]

8/29/2011 3:00:00 PM 
 
Public urged to use caution around black bears after recent incidents

DNR news release

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is investigating several recent incidents of aggressive or threatening behavior by black bears in the Ely area.

The reports have involved some collared bears that are part of research being conducted by Dr. Lynn Rogers and some that are not. There have been recent reports of a collared bear at Bear Head Lake State Park approaching occupied vehicles and putting its front paws on vehicles. Another report involved a collared bear within three feet of a two-year-old child near the open door of a vehicle. The child's mother scared the bear away only after pushing a wheel barrow toward it.

Around 4 a.m. on Monday morning, Aug. 29, a homeowner killed a non-collared bear that refused to leave the homeowner's porch. The homeowner fired a warning shot, and then legally shot and killed the bear after it refused to leave. A conservation officer responded to the incident and took possession of the bear carcass. The bear is not believed to be part of a research project.

DNR officials have asked for Dr. Rogers' assistance in preventing the bear-human conflicts involving collared bears. The DNR has informed Rogers that under DNR policy, bears that pose a threat to public safety can be destroyed by local enforcement authorities.

The DNR urges the public in the Ely area not to feed bears, an activity that can cause the animals to become fearless of people. Home and cabin owners can reduce bear problems by reducing garbage can odors, removing bird feeders and keeping pet food inside. If you are approached by a bear, back away slowly and try to go indoors and wait for the bear to leave. If a bear refuses to leave, make loud noises and throw something to scare it away. Always allow the bear an escape route.
 

[jkcmj]

I ran across this interesting Op-Ed piece from South Carolina, where an attendee of one of Lynn's Bear Courses recites her experience during the course, while objecting to a proposed bear hunt in the coastal region of SC.

A Quote from  Barbara Happe VanBlarcum, the author of the Op-Ed, and attendee of one of Rogers week long courses;


"I studied bears with Dr. Rogers in Minnesota, where it is legal to feed bears, and I have met and fed dozens of bears by hand in the deep woods and heard them communicate with each other – the most fun I ever had."

Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/09/07/2376284/no-bear-hunt-necessary-here.html#ixzz1XOikcb1Q

The hand feeding of bears by over 80 strangers per season during the bear courses, as well as film crews from BBC and Animal Planet, neighbors, and others, makes all of the research conditioned bears likely to get to close for comfort to many people as time goes on.  Low food availability in the Arrowhead region is not to blame when the research bears approach people, as they are able to get unlimited amounts of choice foods at the research station and the many homeowners that feed them in and around the eagles nest township areas.  The reason they approach people is they have been made to feel safe in going to and demanding food from most anyone they see.