DNR wants Bear feedin ban

[Lee Borgersen]

 March 12, 2015


                 Bear feeding: Minnesota DNR wants to ban it.

 


 
 

Fresh off a legal victory over controversial bear researcher Lynn Rogers, Minnesota wildlife officials want to restrict feeding wild bears.

Under a proposal moving through the Legislature and supported by the state Department of Natural Resources, feeding a bear, "by hand or other physical contact," would become a misdemeanor.

The bill also would outlaw leaving out food to feed or attract bears, or failing to remove food or garbage that has attracted bears.

Hunters and researchers with permits still would be allowed to bait bears, and bird feeders would be exempted.

The ban is needed for public safety to ensure bears don't lose their fear of humans and see people as a food source, said Ed Boggess, director of the DNR's division of fish and wildlife.

"This is to apply broadly to the public to prohibit the feeding of bears, because they cause problems," Boggess said.

State wildlife and parks officials discourage feeding bears, and several states outlaw the practice, but it has never been illegal in Minnesota -- a fact that allowed Rogers and his paying clients to feed wild bears at his Wildlife Research Institute between Ely and Tower in northern Minnesota. At one point, Rogers was studying as many as 200 bears.

Rogers, who also founded the North American Bear Center in Ely, gained notoriety for his practice of "walking with bears" as well as Internet "den cams," which streamed the activities of hibernating bears and cubs live around the world.

Rogers has said he learned to follow, examine and affix radio collars to wild black bears without using tranquilizers or other forceful measures because he hand-fed the animals. He also supplied food to some residents of Eagle's Nest Township who regularly feed bears.

Rogers' tactics were widely criticized among leading bear researchers in the U.S. and Canada, and the DNR said he created a public safety hazard by habituating the animals. Perhaps most controversial was his practice of feeding bears from his mouth and allowing visitors to his institute to feed and pet bears.

Tensions between the DNR and Rogers came to a head last year, when the DNR refused to renew a research permit that allowed him to collar bears and install cameras in their dens, and Rogers sued.

After a two-week hearing, the state's chief administrative law judge, Tammy Pust, sided with the DNR. Pust concluded that the "vast majority of wildlife professionals hold to the scientific view that human feeding of bears increases the safety risk to bears and to humans," and the DNR was justified in not renewing Rogers' permit.

Rogers has appealed parts of Pust's decision to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

He was unaware of the proposal to outlaw bear feeding until asked about it Tuesday.

"Immediately, if this becomes law, they're going to place me on notice," said Rogers, who has accused DNR researchers of a vendetta against him out of professional envy. "This is one more step that is based on pure jealousy."

Rogers said even though he's unable to place new collars on bears, his research has continued, and part and parcel of it is the ability to attract bears with food -- a practice he argues can reduce, not increase, bear-human conflicts.

He said ending feeding would cripple his work and his nonprofit's finances. "That's the way we find out which bears survive. It would just end the last tools that we have."

Rogers said people paying thousands of dollars each to attend his "bear course" are the primary source of revenue for the Wildlife Research Institute. But their attendance is based on the expectation they'll be able to closely observe bears, and that won't happen if bears aren't fed.

When asked whether Rogers was the target of the proposed legislation, Boggess responded: "I wouldn't say he was the inspiration for it. It's something we should be doing for the bears and for public safety."



Biologst Lynn Rogers is pictured checking the heart rate of Jo, a 2-year-old black bear, in September, 2010. Rogers' request that the DNR prohibit the killing of collared bears was recently denied, sparking outrage from supporters. (Photo courtesy of the Wildlife Research Institute)


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[Boar]

Finally!!!!!!!

[glenn57]

Finally!!!!!

but that means you can't be out snacking other people's bait either.

[dew2]

Finally!!!!!!!

UMMM??? I thought feeding any wild animal was illegal.Cept by permit like Rogers and his animal farm of all of the Orr area. I always thought he was saving bears not doing a study!!! Confirmed when he was asked to produce study results!! What a butt along with his site of Lilly the friendly bear giving birth

[beeker]

rogers should just roll up his sleeves and show the court the scars on his arms from feeding his friends all these years.

[Lee Borgersen]

   Bill could impact Lynn Rogers, Shute sanctuary
 




 

 
 


 
 Is the Department of Natural Resources using legislation to punish Ely bear researcher Lynn Rogers, by preventing him from continuing his popular bear study courses? That’s Rogers’ contention after the state agency offered a provision last week that would prohibit the feeding of bears in Minnesota.

The measure, now part of a natural resources policy bill in St. Paul, would prohibit anyone from leaving food out for bears, or failing to take action when notified that bears are utilizing a food source provided by a landowner, whether or not it was intentionally left out for bears. The bill also specifically prohibits anyone from hand-feeding bears, which Rogers has done regularly as part of his popular bear study courses, which have helped fund his Wildlife Research Institute in Eagles Nest Township.

The measure would exempt bird feeders as well as bear bait left out by hunters.

Rogers recently told the Associated Press that his research institute has spent at least $420,000 in a legal fight to restore his research permit, which the DNR Commissioner revoked last year. Rogers is currently appealing a decision by the Office of Administrative Hearings, that upheld the DNR’s permit revocation, to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

For Rogers, the bear study courses have proven to be his primary means of financing his legal defense as well as the ongoing work of his institute. Rogers typically charges $2,400 for participants who spend several days at the institute, observing wild black bears at close range. Rogers can all but guarantee regular bear sightings because he continues to feed bears on the institute grounds.

Rogers said he had projected income of $120,000 from the courses over the next year.

If passed, the legislation would effectively shut down Rogers’ operation and eliminate his primary source of funding for the institute. “If we can’t feed, we can’t hold courses and recover some of the funds that we’ve expended on our legal case.” Currently, Rogers and his fellow researcher, Susan Mansfield, draw salaries of $30,000 annually from the research facility. While the institute once had a financial reserve of over $500,000, most of that has been depleted by the ongoing legal battle with the DNR.

Whether or not the legislation is targeted at Rogers, its fallout could include operations at the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary, near Orr, where a longstanding bear feeding operation attracts hundreds of wild bears and thousands of human visitors each year. Dennis Udovich, who was recently re-elected as president of the American Bear Association, said he’s aware of the bill but needs to study the proposed legislation to see what impact it could have on the sanctuary. The legislation, as currently written, does allow for bear feeding, by permit, for scientific purposes or to control wildlife disease or damage.

But Udovich said from what he’s seen and heard so far, the legislation seems to be targeted primarily at Lynn Rogers.

Although bears are fed at the sanctuary, Udovich said bears are not dependent on the sanctuary as their sole source for food.

“But during years when berry crops are poor and food is scarce for bears, we see more bears coming in to supplement their feeding,” said Udovich. “I think it helps reduce nuisance bear complaints.”

Udovich said the sanctuary has modified its operations since the American Bear Association took control of the property in 1995.

“We’ve quit hand feeding and we don’t allow visitors to feed the bears candy, fruit or other food items or bring them to the sanctuary.” In addition, Udovich said the association discourages people from feeding bears at home.

“We only do it here because it was started by Vince more than 20 years ago,” he said, referring to the sanctuary’s namesake. Shute operated a logging camp at the site. Bears attracted by the scent of Shute’s sourdough pancakes would invade the camp. Shute initially shot the bears breaking into his logging camp buildings, but later decided to leave out some pancakes for the bears instead.

His act of kindness resulted in a unique kinship with the bears that soon had visitors flocking to the site.

“It would be hard to stop feeding the bears here now,” said Udovich, who added the sanctuary provides a rare opportunity to observe black bear behavior with animals normally skittish around humans.

Volunteers working at the sanctuary are the only people allowed to feed the bears, Udovich said. The food supplied is more nutritious and closer to the bears’ diet of natural foods than was the case in the past.

Udovich, who also serves as president of the Bear Guides Association, noted that the feeding restriction won’t apply to bear hunters, who bait bears by setting out food to attract the animals to a site.


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[glenn57]

Shut him down. You don't study WILD bears when you can hand feed them. Maybe he could study boar though.

[Cody Gruchow]

you mean its not a accurate study of bears if you can feed them from your mouth and pet them? weird

maybe he needs to learn that they are wild animals and unpredictable...timothy Treadwell had to learn the hard way...