Living in bear country—A privilege and a responsibility

by Marshall Jones, Summer 2007

	Adult black bear. Photo courtesy National Park Service.

If there is one wild animal which defines the special character of living in Rappahannock County, it must be the American black bear, Ursus americanus. In fact, bears are so common in the county that it's easy to take them for granted—but this was not the case just a few generations ago. Although the black bear was originally abundant throughout Virginia, by 1900 bear populations had been reduced to remnant populations in the Great Dismal Swamp and in the remote mountainous areas along the West Virginia and North Carolina borders.

But the fortunes of bears slowly began to improve in the early 20th century, with the establishment of national forests west and south of the Shenandoah Valley, and then the creation of Shenandoah National Park in 1936.

"Bears were few and far between in the park even in the 1950s," said Park Fisheries and Wildlife Biologist Jim Atkinson. Over the next few decades, however, their population steadily increased, and they began to recolonize their native habitat well into the foothills and the Piedmont. Bears made this recovery all on their own—there were no deliberate reintroductions of bears into this part of Virginia.

The keys to the bear's comeback

How could an animal that averages over 200 pounds in weight (with big males sometimes over 500 pounds) move back and prosper in a landscape shared with people?

First, and most important, is the fact that black bears almost never pose a threat to humans. Attacks are incredibly rare, and no one has ever been seriously injured by an unprovoked attack in Virginia. Many legends to the contrary, a mother bear's innate response to protect her cubs from a sudden encounter is to flee, not fight. If possible, she and her brood will just melt into the forest. If she feels more threatened, she may send the cubs up a tree, where she can join them if necessary. (This ability to climb out of harm's way is one of the key distinctions between black bears and the larger grizzly or brown bears of the west).

In Virginia as a whole, black bears average two to three cubs per litter every other year. But in this area litters of four cubs are not unusual, a sign of an expanding population that makes bear management a complex issue, says retired Game Warden Jim Bankston.

But large litters also make finding food sources even more important, and their foraging resourcefulness is another key to their success. "They are omnivores, able to process carrion, road kills, vegetation, insects—yellow jacket nests and their larvae can provide a lot of protein," said Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries Project Leader Jaime Sejecki. "On occasion they also kill mice and newborn fawns."

In the fall, acorns are a staple as they fatten up for the winter. Today, however, they've also learned to look for the autumn increase in road-killed deer, a food source not available to their ancestors. "A bear can eat an entire deer carcass in twenty-four hours," said Atkinson.

Even in the winter, black bears can take advantage of favorable conditions to forage. Not true hibernators, they are able to emerge from their dens under large logs or in secluded caves to look for food during the warm spells that  increasingly characterize our winters today.

"I think bears are completely amazing in how intelligent and resourceful they are," said Sajecki, who worked with black bears in California before moving to Virginia. She compares their intelligence favorably to that of a German shepherd. Clearly, their ability to learn and adapt to new conditions has been essential to their success.

Tough love for bears is our responsibility

	Black bears that learn to eat from table refuse become problem bears. Photo courtesy Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries.

But it is that intelligence and resourcefulness that also sometimes brings bears into closer quarters with humans than is good for them. My wife Clay and I learned this firsthand last month.

In our 17 years of living at the end of Keyser Hollow, we have enjoyed the presence of bears every year without incident. Then we committed one of the real sins of living with bears—we left a bowl of cat food on a screened porch after the cat finished eating, leaving a fragrant attraction that was too much for a local bruin to pass up.

The result? A few hours later, Clay came out to find the screen on one side torn apart. Both food and cat were nowhere to be found, but there was plenty of evidence left by a bear after an easy meal. Clay located the cat a few hours later, no worse for his experience—it was the cat chow, not the cat, that the bear had in mind. The next evening, the bear came back again, pushing through a make-shift barrier in hopes that we weren't as quick to learn how to adapt to a new situation as he or she was!

Once we had a more secure patch in place, the visits ended. But we knew that we had created, or at least reinforced, a problem. It was our fault, not the bear's—but the bear is the one who might suffer if the behavior gets repeated too often.

To Rappahannock arborist and leader of the Rappahannock Nature Camp Lyt Wood, this is all too common. "When a bear even one time gets a mouthful of food associated with a human being, you have a problem," he said. "They will come in through screened windows and doors if they smell food." He even knows of a small bear that came into a house in his neighborhood through a doggy door!

 "I love these animals," Wood added. "I'm really glad they're around. But people have to learn to respect them and understand that they're very powerful and always hungry!"

Our neighbors Marlene and Robert Krasic have had their own experience with an enterprising bear in recent weeks, very possibly the same one that visited us. When they discovered that a bear was raiding their llama pen for food, they immediately did the right thing—they started securing the food at night, and now even take in their birdfeeders. And just to make sure that we were not contributing to our neighborhood bear issue, Clay and I stopped putting out food scraps in our compost pile.

Anyone who reads Rappnet knows that this is not just a problem in Keyser Hollow this year. People from all over the county are talking about bears, and the season for issues in orchards has not yet arrived.

Does this represent an overall increase in bear encounters? State Bear Project Leader Sajecki said her department has received numerous complaints this year from many areas, but they have not yet had time to do an analysis of how this compares to previous years. In Shenandoah National Park, Wildlife Biologist Atkinson has not noted any unusual increase in complaints from hikers or campers, but he is spending much of his time hazing bears away from Skyline Drive, since three bears have been killed by cars within the Park so far this year.

Retired Game Warden Bankston is not aware of any unusual increase, but he noted that Rappahannock County traditionally has one of the highest rates of bear issues in Virginia. In the past, he was involved in relocating bears to the Mount Rogers area of Virginia, but this is no longer an option—and he notes that moving a problem bear seldom resolves the underlying issue.

Sajecki, Atkinson, and Bankston all agree that it's important for everyone who lives in bear country to take responsibility for their actions and avoid anything which may teach bears the wrong lessons. This includes talking with your neighbors, especially if they (or you) are new to the area—living with bears is really a neighborhood responsibility.

How to be responsible

The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, in its pamphlet "Living with Black Bears in Virginia," recommends a series of actions we all can take to be responsible inhabitants of bear country and continue to enjoy the presence of these incredible survivors:

• Secure your garbage in a shed, garage, or bear-proof container.

• Pick up pet food as soon as they've finished eating.

• Remove bird feeders (or I would add, hang them high in a place where a bear cannot reach up or climb down to get them).

• Clean your outdoor grill often (remove all tempting residue from your 4th of July barbecue!).

• Avoid strong-smelling food in a compost pile or put it in a securely enclosed bin.

• Pick up and remove ripe fruit from fruit trees and surrounding areas.

• Install electric fencing to protect beehives, dumpsters, gardens, and compost piles.

• Talk to your neighbors! Preventing bear problems on your property and educating others is one way to be a good neighbor.

For more information

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has an excellent collection of bear materials on its website at www.dgif.state.va.us/wildlife/bear including "Bears on the Move," "Living in Bear Country," "Urban Black Bear Problems," "Problem Bears in Agriculture," "Electric Fencing for Black Bears," and the complete "Virginia Black Bear Management Plan (2001-2010)," with contact information about who to call if you have a bear problem you don't know how to resolve. Virginia's Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has also posted an informative video, "Living with Black Bears in Virginia," on their website. Rappahannock resident Bruce Jones is one of the interviewees. For the ultimate in living safely and responsibly with bears all across North America, see Linda Masterson's superb new book, Living with Bears—A Practical Guide to Bear Country, published by PixyJack Press, which is available at Shenandoah National Park Visitor Centers or from online booksellers.