Annual Meeting Bear Program

Reprint from Country Folks - December 5, 2005

CCE-Steuben Annual Meeting invites
the whole neigh"bear"hood to its first annual auction

The evening centered around bears ... and a more intriguing topic could not have been found! The event drew over 100 people interested in purchasing bear-related auction items and hearing more about real life bear encounters.

This year CCE-Steuben took a new approach to their annual meeting. Not only did they put on an interesting educational program, but they intertwined it with a fundraising auction, which also centered around the bear theme. DEC Wildlife expert Greg Fuerst captured the audience's attention with his slide show of bear photos and tales of bear tracking in the Southern Tier. Both adults and children who were listening were surprised to see how fast a bear cub grows and how far a mother bear travels in one season.

The audience learned that bear can be conditioned to stay away from human dwellings. Usually the humans must also be conditioned - to not deliberately feed the bear and encourage them. Fuerst had a variety of bear skins and equipment to share with the group.

The evening was filled with excitement as the guests bid against each other in both silent and live auctions for such goods as a two day trip to bear country in the Adirondacks, child bear rugs, bear wine bottle holders and bear pottery and gifts. Proceeds from the auction will benefit programming to Steuben County residents by Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Bears In Your Backyard Captivates 128 At Steuben CCE
November Presentation Featured DEC Specialist Greg Fuerst

By Ken Thomas

(Reprinted with permission of Country Folks- Western Edition December 5, 2005)

“The black bear’s sense of smell is uncanny,” shared Region 8 Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Black Bear Specialist, Greg Fuerst, as he addressed the Steuben County CCE crowd gathered at the Bath Country Club. “That’s what draws them in to your backyard. They know you’ve been cooking at the grill-they smell the grease collector can. They smell the suet bag you put up for the birds. They smell the sweet dog food or cat food you left in the bowls on the back porch. They can even smell the pie you left in the trunk of you car.”

“Using a radio receiver like this one we tracked a ‘nuisance’ bear that we trapped near Vestal, NY. We received it in Greenwood — northwestern Steuben County. It followed a wandering path down to Ithaca over to Alpine before meeting its demise in a vehicle accident. It was nearly back home. Black bears have large home ranges with adult males traveling in a 100 square mile area,” DEC’s Greg Fuerst explained.
Photo by Ken Thomas

A Profile of New York’s Black Bear
“It has been a real privilege to work with the black bear population in our state. They are powerful and magnificent creatures. The adult female is pregnant every other year. Fertilization occurs in late June to July, but the fetus does not begin to grow until the denning in mid November to December. Dens, used only for one year, are usually on a northeast area with less sun and thus less variation in temperatures. The newborns arrive in the winter den around the first of February. At birth they are essentially blind and have no fur. They weigh only 8 ounces!” “Nursing on their sleeping mother the cubs gain weight quickly with the high fat content milk and leave the den after about six weeks weighing six pounds. Then they go to 30 pounds after thirty weeks and end their first year between 80 and 100 pounds. If a typical human baby with a birth rate of eight pounds gained at the same pace the one year old child would top out at 1042 pounds!” “The cubs rejoin their mother the second winter in the dens, but then are chased away in the spring since the males will pursue the female again and the young cubs are then in danger.” He detailed additional bear facts for the keenly interested audience. The adult female would average around 160 pounds with the average male weight being 300. The largest adult weigh recorded a weight of nearly 600 pounds found near Elmira in Chemung County.

These bear are only 2 1/2 to 3 feet high at the shoulder and six feet long from the end of a short tail to the tip of their nose. There is only one bear species in New York State, Ursus americanus, it numbers just over 8000, centered in three ranges: Adirondack, Allegany, and Catskill. Nearly always black, there are color phases. Black bears are occasionally found in a blonde and cinnamon stage.

Fuerst indicated that black bear are true omnivores, “The black bear diet is 50 to 60 percent grasses, cowslips and dandelions. But they will eat insects, small snakes, amphibians, and carrion. They eat hickory nuts and other nuts using very strong molars. The inch and a half canines are usually used to pull apart carrion. And of course a true bear favorite remains honey.”

DEC Region 8 Black Bear Specialist Greg Fuerst shares a moment with one of 128 attendees to the Steuben CCE presentation. He reviewed the “bear” facts of New York’s 8,000 black bears. He stated that black bears generally avoid humans unless drawn by food sources such as bird feeders. Feeding birds during winter when bears are denning is one strategy to keep them out of your backyard. Also, keeping garbage cans inside until collection time, feeding pet food inside, and emptying barbeque grease collection cans.
Photo by Ken Thomas

Backyard Bear Basics
Fuerst time and again emphasized the importance of removing the food attraction to remove the black bear from your backyard. He listed several ideas to prevent bear problems.
1-Store garbage in cans and keep them in a secure place such as in
your garage.
2-Don’t put out your garbage cans until the morning of pick up day.
3-Feed birds after only December 1 and only until April 1. Bears are
drawn to the smell of suet and birdseed.
4-Always remove and clean the grease collector cans and trays on your
barbeques grill.
5-Do not leave animal feed dishes with food outside. The smell or dog and cat food, and even sweet horse feed, will certainly bring bear to your backyard area.
6-Although a livestock attack by bears are very rare, it is a good idea to fence in animals at pasture with electric fencing. Also, be certain to put an electric wire fence around valuable beehives. These remain a very big attraction to hungry bears.

“We don’t remove bear anymore. There are simply too many. It just gives the problem to someone else. Besides we have measured the movements of the black bear and found they will travels many miles to get back to their ‘home’ region. One bear was removed to Greenwood and was found back in the Vestal area in only several weeks.” “Keeping food source away really does help avoid bear problems. We recommend cayenne pepper in bird seed feeders. Some times rubber crowd control shot into the bear’s back and behind works to discourage them. But if the food is not removed, they will return.”

Bears have adequate vision, better hearing, and phenomenal sense of smell. They can easily smell food in closed car trucks and cabin pantries. Although primarily vegetarians, black bears are considered omnivores because in addition to eating grasses, sedges, berries, and nuts, they will also eat ants, reptiles, fish and carrion. Any yes, black bears do love honey! They’ll even rip siding off a home, or cabin, to find a honey-filled hive.
Photo by Ken Thomas

A Final Thought
According to Fuerst, “Black bear deserve our respect. They are powerful. They will defend themselves and their young. But, you shouldn’t fear them. Instead, you should enjoy this wonderful creature…but not by habitually feeding them.” “They love their forest habitat. Two hundred years ago we cleared much of the mature tree species away. Now, we have an obligation to learn to live with them, as they have had to learn to live with us. We wonder where did these bear come from? More than likely the bear are looking back at us wondering where did all these people come from?!”

This radio transmitter collar and receiver system is used by the DEC to monitor the movements of the New York State bear population.
Photo by Ken Thomas