Leave bear in peace

[Lee Borgersen]

Friday, December 21, 2001907 Volume 18, Issue 51 Timberjay Newspaper

Leave bear in peace: DNR makes wrong decision for the wrong reasons

Six months ago, when a few residents of Eagles Nest Township complained to the Department of Natural Resources about bear troubles in their neighborhood along Walsh Road, agency officials urged residents to solve the problem at the local level.
It seemed a reasonable suggestion, one that was consistent with the recent evolution of the DNR’s own views on bear and human conflicts. In the past the agency put the onus on the bear, and either responded with lethal force to solve the problem, or trapping and relocation. Nowadays, the DNR sees the problem as much an issue of modifying the behavior of humans as of bears.

Eagles Nest residents took the agency’s advice and brought their concerns to the town board, which set up a 14 person committee that worked for months to draft a proactive bear policy designed to bridge the widely-differing views within the community. In the end, even the small minority that originally favored destruction of a couple of bears that they felt had become too comfortable in residential areas, were willing to give the more humane approach favored by most of their neighbors a chance. The town board, earlier this month, gave its unanimous blessing to the plan, which included classes on bear behavior for residents, along with a bear trouble hot line.

Now, just as the township the DNR once urged to solve its own problem has come up with a plan to do so, the agency has announced its intent to upset the delicate balance local residents had achieved on a once divisive issue.

Agency officials have announced their intent to kill one of the bears that has been a frequent visitor to homes in the Walsh Road neighborhood. The bear, dubbed Solo by local residents, is currently hibernating with its two yearling cubs under an unoccupied summer cabin in the area. The bears might have passed the winter undisturbed but when bear researcher Lynn Rogers asked the cabin owner for permission to place a remote camera in the “den,” the property owner contacted the DNR instead, and asked the agency to remove the animals.

Based on DNR policy, the usual response to such a request should have been “no.” The bears present no public threat at the current time and there’s no reason to think they will cause any property damage while sleeping on the ground under the cabin. If the bears weren’t an issue for the DNR this past summer, when some residents complained about raids on bird feeders and the like, it’s difficult to imagine why hibernating bears pose a substantially greater risk to public safety.

There may be a method to the agency’s inconsistency, unfortunately it’s not a flattering one. The agency has made no secret of its dislike for the research practices of Dr. Lynn Rogers, who has radio-collared a number of bears in the Eagles Nest area, including Solo, for his ongoing study of bear behavior. Unlike most bear researchers, Rogers has adopted methods pioneered by Jane Goodall on chimpanzees and, like Goodall, has obtained the kind of information on bear behavior that would be nearly impossible to get using traditional methods.

There’s no point in speculating as to why Rogers has so upset the DNR. There are undoubtedly several reasons, some perhaps valid, some petty. There appears to be little doubt, however, that the agency is attempting to use the situation in Eagles Nest Township to discredit Rogers – and that’s inappropriate.

In a Dec. 5 letter to Rogers, DNR Wildlife Research and Policy Manager Mike Doncarlos, without any evidence, blamed Solo’s lack of fear of humans on Rogers’ research methods. He also claimed that Solo had “pushed” an individual in the neighborhood, a claim that the town board chairman, who investigated the incident, says is untrue. The bear did approach an individual and sniff him, perhaps even touching the person with his nose, but it made no threatening gestures, nor was anyone hurt.

Doncarlos calls such behavior “aberrant” but such a comment simply shows how backwards the DNR mindset can be on the subject of animal behavior.

While it’s true that bears have long showed fear towards humans, that was primarily because bears are intelligent and quickly learned that humans usually represented a mortal threat. But in some situations, where humans have presented a friendlier face, bears have learned to be more trusting. Vince Shute’s life was certainly testament to the fact that bears and humans don’t necessarily have to fear each other. The very same dynamic has been seen in many other locations, from national parks like Yellowstone, to communities in the western U.S., where bears have made themselves at home in residential areas.

The Walsh Road neighborhood is another case in point. Some residents there have fed wildlife, including bears, for years and have enjoyed their presence. Local bears have shed some of their distrust of humans as a result. Some in the DNR call that aberrant, but it could just as easily be viewed as perfectly natural.

The DNR claims black bears are a public safety hazard if they don’t fear humans, but the agency has precious little evidence to support that claim.

Instead, they appear ready to rely on outdated myths and embellished, second-hand stories as justification for killing a bear whose only apparent crime is trusting in the good nature of people. And if, as seems likely, this is being done as part of an effort to discredit a prominent local scientist, the DNR’s intent is all the more contemptible.

More thoughtful officials in the agency should overrule this poorly-considered decision. The DNR was right to stay out of the matter the first time.

[jkcmj]

I am dissapointed to read the story recounted above.  I have hunted the area around Lynn Roger's research facility for a number of years and have agreed not to shoot the collared research bears in the area.  The information obtained from the bears is very interesting and the videos they capture while following the bears in the woods are amazing.  I encourage anyone visiting the Ely area and the boundary waters to visit the North American Bear Center and see what these folks have been able to accomplish.  They spend countless hours working with these bears in order to be able to accompany them while they feed, rest and raise there young in a wild environement.  Amazing stuff!  I accompanied the researchers to winter dens last year and was able to get a glimpse of newborn cubs in the den with the sow, as well as a pair of yearlings in the den with the sow.  Just a sad deal all the way around, both from an aspect of the loss of a valueable reasearch animal as well as the loss of a breeding sow producing huntable bears every other year in the area.  I will include a couple of photos for you.  Certainly an experience as memorable as any bear I've ever harvested on the hunt.....

[Lee Borgersen]

We visited the North American Bear Center this year and it was very impressive to say the least. Thanks for sharing your input and great photos.

[Lee Borgersen]

 I Just Found This 
 

 
Friday, December 21, 2007

Collared bear, cubs denned under porch at Eagles Nest cabin

by Nick Wognum ....The Ely echo


The fate of a bear and her cubs denned under a deck of an Eagles Nest Lake cabin may not be as dire as first thought.

"It's Merry Christmas for the bear," said Dan Humay, the board chair at Eagles Nest Township. Humay said he had been told the DNR had dropped plans to euthanize the four year-old bear known to residents as "Solo," because it only has one ear.

DNR officials met Thursday to discuss a proposal from Rep. David Dill to relocate the bear and its cubs to the Vince Shute Sanctuary in Orr.

The issue started when the owner of the private property asked the DNR to remove the bear and the cubs.

"The original plan was to try and find a home for the adult bear either at the (North American) Bear Center or some place like that, but that didn't work out," said DNR wildlife manager Jeff Lightfoot.

"Plan B was to destroy the bear and relocate the cubs. The reason for that was because of the bear's disposition, not necessarily aggressive but I would say she was overly tolerant or unafraid of people. Our feeling was that she was a public safety threat and a liability that the department has to make a decision on."

Lynn Rogers, founder of the North American Bear Center, who lives in the township where the bear is located, said the DNR overreacted and that the bear has not shown any indication of causing anyone harm.

"People have been feeding bears out there for 40 years. (The DNR) acts like that's dangerous and that means the bear is more dangerous, but the record shows that's not the case. Even though people have been feeding bears out there for 40 years, there's never been a mishap," said Rogers.

Lightfoot said the DNR took into account several reports of the bear damaging property and one instance where the bear nudged a man who was putting in a dock.

"There's been several problems with this bear and she's very easy to pick out because of her missing ear," said Lightfoot.

"She has tipped over or knocked over screen houses set up over picnic tables, along with barbecues, bird feeders and a man installing a dock this summer. The bear approached him and began pushing him around and chasing him around the yard after he tried to chase her out.

"Those sorts of encounters have led some people, not all people in Eagles Nest, to not allow their kids in their yards. You just don't know how a wild bear is going to behave. She really is a wild bear acting tame and that's not considered natural behavior for a bear to be comfortable around people," said Lightfoot.

Rogers said putting the bear in with two of the largest black bears in the world at the Bear Center was not an option because of space and logistics. But he said the problem starts with the fear people have of bears.

"The real story to me is that the world is filled with fear about bears. That comes from outdoor magazine covers where a commercial artist draws a terrifying picture of a bear to the taxidermist that mounts a bear with an unnatural snarl to attorneys worried about liability problems so they have visitors in National Parks sign a release form.

"So most people are afraid of bears and the DNR tends to reflect that viewpoint. The viewpoint here is a community where they have been feeding bears for more than 40 years," said Rogers.

Humay confirmed that bears are seen in a favorable light by the majority of property owners in the township. He pointed to a recently completed plan put together by citizens, "Living with Bears in Eagles Nest Township - A Plan for Coexisting with Wildlife in a Natural Setting."

Humay went as far to say, "We're kind of optimistic to try out some things through refining and reworking a plan for local management of these types of affairs and five years from now if things go the way the community wants them to go this wouldn't be a story."

The plan recognizes the "Walsh Road corridor" where there are numerous people who feed bears and some who don't want bears on their property. There is even a section titled, "Admonishing Unwanted Bears: Getting Them To Flee."

Humay said the plan will only work if people buy into it since the township has no authority in the matter.

The final say in bear management falls to the state and to the DNR, a role employees there admit is difficult at times but know it is their job to do.

"Ultimately the responsibility for wild animals rests with the state. Wild animals belong to the people and state government is responsible for managing those animals. Historically nuisance bears have fallen to the state and the DNR," said Lightfoot. "This one, because it's on private property, we can't enter the property or do anything without permission. But this is at the landowner's request to remove the bear."

Lightfoot and Humay agree that private property rights are an important part of this issue.

"A person can protect their own property by destroying a bear under state law," said Lightfoot. "If you've got a bear on the deck and you fear the bear will enter the house you are within your rights to destroy the bear and then call a conservation officer. It's been that way ever since bears have been managed by the state."

In the Eagles Nest plan, property owner rights are number one on a list of tenets adopted by the committee.

"There have been situations where a bear was shot by a property owner. In this case this woman owns the cabin, she is seasonal owner and she has been very straight forward. She's an innocent victim here," said Humay.

For Rogers, the issue should include the recognition that this bear lives in an area where feeding wild animals is a common occurrence. He also believes the bear had a reason to nudge the man working on his dock.

"That guy is the brother-in-law of the lady who's house Solo is denned under. The guy was bent over so he was not looking human. We found if we sit down or lay down a bear will react differently than if we are standing. I can imagine Solo seeing a different looking object and she went over and gave a sniff and he was surprised," said Rogers.

The man who was cited by the DNR as being bumped and chased by the bear was contacted but would not comment on the record for this story.

"Solo discovered Walsh Road with house after house with multiple bird feeders up on decks plus people there feed deer year round. Most people shied away from her, either they enjoyed feeding her or they just didn't scare her away. That made five families mad. It led to a committee being formed at the urging of the DNR to try to come to consensus on how this community wants to deal with bears.

"They had six meetings with 14 people on the committee and they took it serious. They canvassed the community to see they how feel about Solo. Except for five, nobody else wanted her killed. At first the community was divided then they came to consensus.

"Meanwhile Solo denned under the house of a complainer. I thought it was an opportunity the community could learn from with a den cam under the lady's house the whole community and the whole world could watch Solo and the negative part of the community could soften their attitude," said Rogers.

He said that plan failed when the property owner was contacted about the den cam and her response was to call the DNR and demand the bear be removed.

"She told Dan 'that bear ruined my summer; my daughter would not bring my granddaughter.' She knew the DNR's recommendation was simply kill the bear. They say there's 25,000 bears in state, they're not endangered so what's one bear," said Rogers.

Rogers and Humay believe the bear could be possibly be taught not to enter certain areas by removing feeders and using pepper spray.

"We were prepared to make this bear a better citizen this coming year. I handed out 100 cans of pepper spray and some people said 'we don't go close enough to use this," said Rogers. "But there are people feeding her out of their hand, lots of people are doing that, feeding her and petting her."

Rogers acknowledged the proposed move to the Shute Sanctuary near Orr was a compromise. But he also said the plan may not work.

"She just happens to have a calm personality, her sister had the same calm personality but in her case she just happened to disperse to the Boundary Waters when she got old enough to leave the mother's territory. She went to the Boundary Waters and that fall in 2005 their mother Blackheart got killed by a hunter. That left Blackheart's territory open and Solo took it over and discovered at the edge of it Walsh Road."

Rogers said there are 12 radio collared bears in the Eagles Nest area and another 12 to 13 that live there along with more that come through during different parts of the year.

"I suspect that the bear will not stay at Orr, there are too many bears there. Probably the reason she would leave is she feels more comfortable with people than bears. When she was a cub a bear attacked her and her sibling and killed the sibling and tore the ear off Solo. She is just wary of bears so I think when she finds herself in the midst of bears up in Orr she will want to come here anyway.

"On the way back it's just possible she will stop by somebody's house to check out bird feeders and that could be bad. Eagles Nest is a township where people have a lot of eco- and environmental sensitivity and appreciation for wildlife. Coming back it would not be a township like that and it is very likely she would killed on the way back," said Rogers.

Knowing the proposed move is better than euthanization, Rogers still thinks the DNR missed out on a chance to test the township's plan.

"I view this as a whole opportunity missed. The community came together with recommendations, they even asked me to give seminars on bear behavior including teaching people to pepper spray her and being aggressive toward her. And, that people's decks are dangerous places to be."

Dill believes the issue will likely be resolved after the holidays. He said he received over 50 calls and emails on the bear.

After contacting the Shute Sanctuary, Dill called the DNR and offered up the compromise.

"Under normal circumstances the DNR wouldn't relocate this social of a bear but at the sanctuary they are feeding bears there. I would prefer to see the bear given another chance but if it becomes a problem they would have to do something other than relocation," said Dill.

He added, "People need to realize these are wild animals and they shouldn't be feeding bears around neighborhoods."
 
 

[jkcmj]

If you blow up the lower photo you can see a yearling poking it's head out both on top of the rock den and on the bottom.  They come out so small when you put them on here that it is difficult to see them both.