Louisiana Black Bear article

[Emily]

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /803180329

Relocations ensure future is wild for black bears
By Greg Hilburn
ghilburn@thenewsstar.com

Deep in the Tensas National Wildlife Refuge, a 200-pound Louisiana black bear was nursing her 3-month-old cub on Monday morning in a hollow cypress tree trunk 70 feet above a backwater slough.
The bear, one of fewer than 500 in the state, was about to have visitors.

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Scientists from the Louisiana and U.S. wildlife and fisheries departments, a professor and three graduate students from the University of Tennessee, and members of the Black

Bear Conservation Committee came knocking on her den.
They will relocate her and up to seven more bear mothers and their cubs this week as part of the Louisiana Black Bear Reintroduction program that began in 2001 as a project to create a black bear corridor stretching from the refuge to Point Coupee Parish.

"We want to plug the bear population gaps to eventually link these populations," said Joe Clark of the U.S. Geological Survey, who also is an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee. "We try to find patches of hardwood habitat, seed them with females and then let the bears take over. I think it's working."

Dave Telesco with the non-profit Black Bear Conservation Committee said that of the 36 bears that have been transplanted, 14 already produced cub litters in their new homes.

"That's a true sign of success," Telesco said.

The goal, said Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham, is to grow a black bear population large enough to be taken off the threatened species list.

"The bear is a symbol of what's wild that's still here," he said. "Bears are at the top of the chain in Louisiana, so they attract more attention. Most people will never see a bear in the wild, but they want to know that they're still there."

Debbie Fuller of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said there must be two viable bear populations with a connective habitat to be removed from the threatened list.

"We've made a lot of progress," Fuller said. "We're especially proud of this program because of the cooperation of all of the entities involved. No one entity could do it."

It's working so well, said Tensas refuge manager Kelly Purkey of West Monroe, that some hunters and landowners are complaining that the bear is becoming a nuisance.

"We're known as a trophy deer refuge, and some of our hunters are telling me they're seeing more bear and less deer," she said. "They think the bears are affecting the deer population.

"The bears have also done some damage to camps. There are definitely some people who are frustrated that we're growing the population instead of removing them."

But the vast majority, said Barham and Clark, have a soft spot for the Louisiana black bear that Teddy Roosevelt once hunted on the same land that's now part of the 80,000-acre Tensas refuge.

"The Louisiana black bear is still the Teddy bear," Barham said.

"They're almost human-like in their expressions," Clark said. "They nurture their young for long periods (about 18 months). We have a special connection with them."

Tennessee graduate students Carrie Lowe and Mike Hooker climbed the cypress tree on Monday morning, peered into the den and tranquilized the mother bear.

A few minutes later, Lowe disappeared into the den and retrieved the 3½-pound cub, which was lowered in a green satchel and placed in a faded pillowcase.

Then the sleepy mother emerged from the den in a harness and was lowered softly with a pulley system. Mother and cub were both fine.

"We have to transplant mothers and cubs because their maternal instincts override their strong homing instincts," said Maria Davidson, the LDWF's large carnivore program manager. "Male bears roam, but the female bears will establish a new territory if they have cubs."

So far, only three of the 36 transplanted female bears have abandoned their cubs and tried to return to their original home, Davidson said. In those cases, the wildlife officials place the cubs with other mother bears in the wild.

"They accept them immediately," Davidson said.

Monday's mother and cub were placed in the Red River Wildlife Management Area in southern Concordia Parish, where Clark said they will establish another link in the chain to connect the state's two largest black bear populations.

"We believe the population is expanding," Clark said. "If we can provide these stepping stones for them, the bears will eventually become more efficient than we are in growing the population."