Tag: Bear Sighting

Bear calls rise around Lake Tahoe as California, Nevada take different approaches

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Black bear walking through a pine forest near cabins and a mountain lake

Bear-related calls are on the rise around the Lake Tahoe region, with South Lake Tahoe police reporting 174 calls so far this year, compared with 97 during the same period last year. But because Lake Tahoe spans California and Nevada, how officials respond to bears can look very different depending on which side of the lake you’re on. In Nevada, wildlife officials have a unique tool at their disposal: a four-legged bear chaser named Badger. Badger is a Karelian Bear Dog trained to work alongside Nevada Department of Wildlife biologists. His job is to haze bears that have become too comfortable around people.

The goal isn’t to hurt the bear. Instead, the dogs create a negative association with people and encourage the bear to retreat back into the wild. “Using the dogs versus other tools makes a difference in the amount of time that they stay away from people, how quick they are to retreat from people when they’re encountered again,” said Becca Carniello, a Nevada Department of Wildlife game biologist. Nevada has used Karelian Bear Dogs since 2001, and officials say the dogs can help change how a bear responds the next time it encounters people. California uses a different toolbox. California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Cort Klopping says officers can use a range of hazing techniques, including yelling, making themselves appear larger, using air horns and other loud noisemakers.

In some cases, wildlife officials also use bean-bag guns or paintball guns. With bear activity increasing around Tahoe, that raises the question: Why not add a dog like Badger to California’s toolbox? Klopping says California has considered the approach but doesn’t see enough added benefit to justify it. “It’s something that has been successful for a lot of different departments in the past. It doesn’t seem like it’s really worth it necessarily for us. It doesn’t give us any more effectiveness than the other hazing techniques that we use to move the bears along,” Klopping said. The states may use different tools, but wildlife officials on both sides agree that hazing is only a temporary solution. “Anything we do with the bear, hazing the bear, it’s only a temporary behavior change.

The permanent solution has to come from people securing their trash,” Carniello said. That puts human behavior at the center of the issue. Unsecured garbage cans, pet food left outside and even a dirty barbecue grill can attract bears — and once a bear learns that people mean an easy meal, it can become increasingly comfortable coming back. “The attractants, you know, that goes for unsecured garbage cans, pet food left outside, even something as simple as not cleaning your grill after you use it,” Klopping said.

So while Nevada’s Badger can chase a bear away and people can haze one when it gets too close, wildlife officials say the best defense is preventing bears from finding a reason to stick around in the first place. For now, the message from wildlife officials remains the same: Different states may have different tools, but keeping bears wild starts with keeping human food and trash out of reach.

Source: Bear calls rise around Lake Tahoe as California, Nevada take different approaches – CBS Sacramento

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 20:24

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Bear encounters are on the rise. Here’s what to do if you meet one

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Black bear and three cubs walking through a dry mountain forest

A drought in the western U.S. has devastated wildlands, dried up food sources and sent bears wandering along city sidewalks and into homes and shops in search of food. What should you do if you meet a bear? Reuters ​turned to BearWise, opens new tab, which bear biologists started in the southeastern United States in 2018 and that grew into ‌a national program of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.

SHOULD PEOPLE FEAR BEARS?

Over millennia, humans have mythologized, vilified and attributed personalities to bears. Smart, strong and fast, bears can weigh hundreds of pounds and are feared predators in the wild. But they typically avoid people and ​rarely attack them, scientists say.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IF A BEAR FEELS THREATENED?

A bear that is huffing, ​moaning or clacking its jaws is showing it is feeling threatened and prepared to defend itself. ⁠BearWise advises standing your ground in the face of a defensive bear, even if it moves toward you. If ​it makes contact, play dead, protecting your head, until it goes away.

WHAT IF THE BEAR IS AGGRESSIVE?

While a defensive bear ​is noisy and obviously stressed, an aggressive or predatory bear is quiet and moves deliberately. In this situation, experts advise shouting, throwing rocks and using bear spray. If a predatory bear makes physical contact, fight back.

DOES IT MATTER WHETHER IT’S A BLACK OR GRIZZLY BEAR?

No, according ​to Nate Bowersock, a black bear biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation and chair of the BearWise working group ​of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. The key is to respond to the bear’s behavior, not its species.

Bears can be hard ‌to tell ⁠apart, especially if you are under pressure. Grizzlies, also known as brown bears, are distinguished in appearance by a shoulder hump. Individual black or grizzly bears vary from black to light brown and range in size.

WHERE ARE NORTH AMERICA’S BEARS?

Black bears are numerous and found across the U.S. and in Canada and Mexico. Most grizzlies, whose population has rebounded because ​of conservation efforts, live in ​Alaska and northern Canada, but ⁠also in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington state.

HOW CAN YOU AVOID TROUBLE?

If you spot a bear, do not approach. Do not gather to gawk if a bear shows up in ​your neighborhood.

If you find a bear in your home or business, leave and call ​in expert help, ⁠Bowersock said.

“Back away quietly,” he said.

Do not feed bears, and that includes not leaving pet food outside, keeping trash bins off the street until pickup morning and keeping barbecue grills clean.

IT’S A DROUGHT. SHOULDN’T I FEED THE BEARS?

Bowersock said people would be ⁠mistaken to ​think they are helping by feeding bears, and that it is even ​more important not to do so during a drought.

“If a bear finds food near people and starts to associate human areas with food, they will ​likely spend even more time in the future near people, even during non-drought times.”

Source: Bear encounters are on the rise. Here’s what to do if you meet one | Reuters

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7

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Baby Bear Nibbles on Photographer’s Boot

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Bear cub sniffing a hiker’s boot on a forest trail

A baby bear took a nibble at a photographer after becoming curious about his boot. Wildlife photographer Bruce Robert Danz was in the Katmai Preserve in Alaska on August 2 with another shooter while capturing images of three cubs and a mama bear fishing. But as is sometimes the case with wildlife photography, the bears wandered close to the humans; a little too close. As the cubs emerged from the muddy river, the trio of inquisitive cubs walked past the two photographers. Danz’s companion can be heard saying, “No bear, no bear” as the bears get too close for comfort.

Then one of the cubs couldn’t resist the urge to investigate and started sniffing at Danz’s shoe. The sniff turns into a nibble and Danz quickly pulled his foot away ever so slightly. “No bear, that’s my foot,” Danz says. “Just moving my boot a little was enough to end the interaction and the cub fell back in line,” Danz tells Storyful. Danz was on a photographic tour with Jerry Jacques, who has been leading grizzly bear photo safaris since 1977. “We kept our distance, kept quiet and did not disturb the bears from fishing,” Danz says. “The bears were aware of our presence and occasionally would walk very close to us.” “Jerry said we handled the situation perfectly by not causing alarm,” Danz adds. “Jerry suggested perhaps the cub was tired of salmon and wanted to try some filet of sole. I was not afraid, just intent on keeping quiet and not causing alarm.”

It’s the second time this summer that a photographer has had a close encounter with a grizzly bear in Katmai: photographer Matt Addington got within inches of a grazing grizzly bear, capturing some incredible close-up images. Despite people joking that the bear was eating a salad while preparing for steak, Addington described it as “one of the more peaceful, serene, surreal moments that I’ve ever had.” Similar to what happened to Danz, the bears were initially hundreds of yards away but naturally drifted over to where they were sitting, untroubled by human presence. Katmai is home to 2,000 brown bears and at this time of year, they eat up to 120 lbs of grass a day to prepare for winter hibernation.

Source: Baby Bear Nibbles on Photographer’s Boot | PetaPixel

Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Matthew 24:44

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Bear tears through screen, breaks into Colorado Cherry Company building to eat blueberry pie

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Yogi Bear reclining with a sandwich beside signs reading “Jellystone Park - Visitor’s Recreation Area,” “Yogi Bear’s Retreat,” and “Yogi’s Den”; picnic basket reads “Picnic Basket.”

The Colorado Cherry Company, a Colorado staple, offers pies so legendary that even bears want a taste. This week a young bear broke into the Colorado Cherry Company’s location on Highway 36 north of Lyons to chow down on a blueberry pie. Colorado Cherry Company Surprisingly, it’s not the first time this has happened. Back in 2015, a bear was able to get in and eat 28 pies, according to employees. The bear enjoyed many flavors but apparently did not touch strawberry rhubarb. The Cherry Company is owned by the family of CBS Colorado’s First Alert Meteorologist Alex Lehnert.

With Alex’s brother now running the shop, a new generation of bears seems to have taken an interest. Wednesday, employees at the Colorado Cherry Company near Lyons arrived to discover someone with a taste for blueberry pie had made an overnight visit to the shop. “An eaten pie on the ground with the paw prints, little blueberry paw prints on the glass,” said Bailey Sandahl, general manager of the Colorado Cherry Company location. The clues left behind pointed to one suspect. “We do have like some prints here from his nose,” said Sielh Avila, a Colorado Cherry Company employee, while indicating the window the bear entered through. Just after the shop closed, employees think the smell of fresh-baked pie wafting from some windows lured the bear in.

“Behind this window is where we have our ovens, and with them on, it gets pretty hot. So we like to open this during the day,” Avila said. “I guess the closers, they didn’t close it all the way.” It was a simple mistake, and one that made it easy as pie for the bear to break in. “I guess it was open just enough that the bear could smell it. And we do have a screen which used to be right here in front of the windows. And I guess he tore right through that. He opened the window and he climbed right in,” Avila said. “He went straight for the pies by the register, and he pulled a couple off the shelf, put them on the floor, helped himself to those.” The bear ate his fill, perused the store’s other offerings, then left, politely not breaking anything. “That’s him again on the other side, looking at the brochures, deciding where he’s going to go next,” Sandahl said, chuckling, while looking at security camera video showing the bear’s activities in the shop.

“Nothing was broken … except the pie.” “It says outside that Yogi Bear eats here, and it lives up to the hype,” a customer said Friday. “This seems like paradise for a bear.” Customers can’t blame the bear. “I think the bear made a good choice, picking the cherry pie because it is the best pie here,” another customer said. But the Cherry Company says he won’t be receiving an invite back anytime soon. “As cute as it was, we don’t want it happening again,” Sandahl said. “A fed bear is a dead bear so we’re doing everything we can to help fix that, so making sure triple checking all the doors are locked up at night, making sure the trash is sealed up and beared off.” It’s been a record-high year for bear sightings and conflicts in Colorado.

Officials have warned this year’s drought is pushing hungry bears closer to the Front Range, and to humans, in search of food.  The Cherry Company admits there’s more bear-proofing that can be done on the old building. They’re looking at reinforcing the doors and windows, and replacing doorknobs, because once a bear finds a food source, they will go back in. “I’m going to keep coming back where I’m fed. So obviously, you don’t want to encourage that. You want to keep the bear population away from the rest of us, for their sake and our sake,” Sandahl said. “It’s a give-and-take. We lost a pie or two, but I think we’ll live at the end of the day.”

Source: Bear tears through screen, breaks into Colorado Cherry Company building to eat blueberry pie – CBS Colorado

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
1 Corinthians 2:9

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Bear, 2 cubs spotted in Auburn as Placer County bear sightings continue

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Mother bear walking with two cubs along a forest trail

A mother bear and her two cubs were spotted Tuesday in Auburn, marking the latest after a string of recent bear sightings across western Placer County. The Auburn Police Department said the bears were seen near Lincoln Way and Russell Road. “A friendly reminder to our neighbors: We live in bear country! Please keep an eye on your surroundings, secure garbage and food sources, and bring pets and other animals inside if a bear is in the area,” Auburn police wrote on social media, noting that bear sightings are not uncommon for the area. The sighting follows recent bear reports in nearby cities in western Placer County including Lincoln, Rocklin and Roseville. In Lincoln, police said a bear was reported several times Friday in the Sun City Lincoln Hills community, with sightings reported between Wagon Wheel Lane and Overland Lane.

Its last reported location was near Oak Tree Lane and Highway 193. Rocklin police also issued an alert last week after a bear was reported near Argonaut Avenue, Sweetwater Drive and Aiken Dairy Road. The following day, several reports came in from Roseville residents who spotted a bear near Foothills Boulevard between Blue Oaks and Pleasant Grove boulevards. It remains unclear whether the reports in Auburn, Lincoln, Rocklin and Roseville involve any of the same animals. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has been notified of the recent sightings and has been monitoring bear activity in the region. Wildlife officials have noted that this time of year can bring increased bear activity as mother bears push their cubs out on their own, sometimes sending younger bears into areas they would not normally go. Bears that wander into residential areas will often eventually leave on their own, officials said.

Source: Bear, 2 cubs spotted in Auburn as Placer County bear sightings continue – CBS Sacramento

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Matthew 19:30

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Roseville bear sighting reported a day after Rocklin alert

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A bear was spotted in Roseville on Wednesday morning, one day after police in neighboring Rocklin issued an alert about a similar sighting. Roseville Fire said the bear was seen near Foothills Boulevard between Blue Oaks Boulevard and Pleasant Grove Boulevard. Roseville police said they received three reports of a bear sighting, all between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. It remains unclear whether the animal is the same bear reported Tuesday near homes in Rocklin’s Skyline area. Rocklin police notified the California Department of Fish and Wildlife about that sighting. Residents are being urged to keep their distance and call authorities if the bear behaves aggressively or poses an immediate threat.

Roseville police noted that no road closures are in effect at this time. Officials say that this is the time of year when mother bears push out their cubs to be on their own, and that sometimes leads them into unusual places, which can be more of a danger to them instead of the public. “When they spend time in these urban areas, there’s a potential to get hit by cars, the potential to get into an unnatural food source,” said Peter Tira, with Fish and Wildlife. Fish and Wildlife told CBS News Sacramento that there’s no current effort to find and capture the bear, noting that it will likely make its way out of town on its own.  Bear sightings are uncommon in Roseville but not unheard of. In 2013, a young black bear was spotted in several east Roseville yards, including outside a home on Spring Valley Drive. Last fall, a family of three bears was also captured on video near Rocklin as the animals followed the Dry Creek watershed through parts of Placer and Sacramento counties.

Source: Roseville bear sighting reported a day after Rocklin alert – CBS Sacramento

The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself.
Proverbs 11:25

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Bear found in Mt. Pleasant relocated by wildlife officials, police said

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bears batching in a river

A young male bear that was spotted up a tree in a mid-Michigan city has been safely relocated to Houghton Lake, local authorities said.  The bear was spotted on Tuesday morning near Francher Avenue and Mosher Street, west of M-127, and was in a tree by the time local authorities arrived on scene. The Mt. Pleasant Police Department and Michigan Department of Natural Resources teamed up on the logistics for the animal rescue.  

The DNR said a thick pole vault mat borrowed from Mt Pleasant High School provided a safe space for the bear to land. “The tranquilized bear landed safely and completely unharmed after an 18-foot drop! DNR biologists gave him a quick medical checkup (he’s in great health!), tagged him, and safely relocated him about 60 miles north to a beautiful swamp in the Houghton Lake area,” the DNR said.

Source: Bear found in Mt. Pleasant relocated by wildlife officials, police said – CBS Detroit

Who “will render to each one according to his deeds”
Romans 2:6

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Bear sighting reported at UC Davis campus

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a black bear in the wild

A young bear appears to be roaming the UC Davis campus Friday morning, prompting an alert from school officials. In a WarnMe notification sent out just after midnight, UC Davis police said they were investigating reports of a bear sighting on campus. Videos posted to social media show a juvenile bear walking around the western edge of campus. UC Davis police are urging anyone who sees the bear not to approach it and to call authorities instead. While rare, it would not be the first time in recent memory that a bear has been spotted near UC Davis.

Source: Bear sighting reported at UC Davis campus – CBS Sacramento

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
Matthew 5:13

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Black bear sightings confirmed in Flat Rock-Rockwood, Carleton areas

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bear in close up

The Michigan DNR says residents in two Southeast Michigan communities have reported black bear sightings in recent days.  According to the DNR, the first sighting happened around 1:13 a.m. on May 10 when a black bear was captured on a cellular trail camera near Carleton in Monroe County. 

Source: Black bear sightings confirmed in Flat Rock-Rockwood, Carleton areas – CBS Detroit

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:4

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