Loaded for Bear? :-)

[CNHT]

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2007/07/01/bear_sightings_increase_in_new_hampshire/9076/

[Pat K]

Well looks like it is time for more Bear hunting.

[KBCraig]

I hope they're all black bears, not brown bears, which are something more than just a bear of a different color.

[Puke]

Guard your picnic baskets!

[KBCraig]

I looked at the sleeping bear, it was a brown, which was confirmed by an animal scientist-neighbor.

Not that I intend to question his credentials, but... he better get that report into the journals, because the rest of the biologists are going to be shocked to learn of a brown bear within 1,500 miles of New Hampshire.

Many black bears are brown in color. But they aren't brown bears.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/brown-bear.html

[Kat Kanning]

This was cool:

Using foraging lessons and forest romps, gentle Ben Kilham teaches orphaned cubs how to be wild.



Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt.

"Watch this," Ben Kilham called out as we tromped through the New Hampshire woods one fine summer's day. Ben wandered off the path, hunted around for a few minutes, then got down on all fours. Almost immediately two black bear cubs came barreling out of the bushes toward him. Most people would be rather put off by this, but then few have the relationship with bears Ben does. He lowered his head and began chomping on Indian cucumber pushing up through the litter on the forest floor. The cubs stuck their noses in his mouth, took a good whiff, hunted around for the same plant, and then began eating it too.

"They've never eaten Indian cucumber before," Ben said. "They've walked right past it a hundred times without knowing it was food. Somebody had to teach them to eat it."

Because these cubs are orphans, that somebody was Ben. He has been working with orphaned, sick, and injured black bear cubs for nine years, and his unique way of rehabilitating them has led the folks around Lyme to call him the Bear Man.

Most of us do everything we can to avoid running into bears when we're in the woods. Not Ben. He may be two-legged and smell different, but to Yoda and Houdini, the two cubs, Ben is Mom. And they are his children.

Their special relationship started one cold day that March. John O ' Brien, a local forester, was surveying the progress of a logging operation on Moose Mountain when he heard a strange noise.

"It was something I'd never heard before, kind of a cross between a hawk and a baby animal," John said later. "I worked my way into a thicket and got close enough to see two tiny cubs wrapped up in each other's arms on the lip of a den. I thought I'd better leave because mama must be around somewhere and ought to be coming back."

But when the cubs' mother still had not returned late in the day, John, worried about the approaching severe cold of night, called Ben.

[dalebert]

Interesting how the dart sent him running. I heard of a town having problems with mountain lions. They started sending people out with rifles with rubber bullets. The idea was for them to learn to be afraid of humans. I think I might consider keeping some rubber bullets handy once I get up there.

[CNHT]

Cute! I love bears...and yes they are all 'black' bears by type.

I loved the story about the bear who came into the person's house and went into the refridgerator.

Bears are cute but they are to be respected as well, which is why I posted about it for those new to NH who may not have known how common they are.

[Quantrill]

Hell, I remember when someone was trying to tell us bears weren't in MO.  My uncle saw bear scat on his property in the Ozarks.

And just a little while back they found what?  An arctic seal in FLA or wherever. 

Just cuz some scientist says a certain type of bear doesn't naturally live in a certain area, does not mean you won't find that animal there.



All that being said, I'm not too worried about a grizzly bear in NH.  Personally, I'd be more afraid of a moose...

[CNHT]

OK Q here it is just for you: our bears are so friendly they will come into your house and do the reverse Goldilocks things...<chuckle>

http://www.caledonianrecord.com/pages/local_news/story/e318bb5a7


Brazen Bear Enters Several Homes

BY AMY ASH NIXON, Staff Writer
Saturday July 21, 2007

BEAR SCARE?

FRANCONIA, N.H. -- A 300-pound bear that has been breaking into peoples' barns and homes this week - in one instance dining in the wee hours on a platter of cookies and brownies in a kitchen on Main Street - was captured Thursday and relocated to Pittsburg, N.H., officials said Friday.

The bear is believed to be the same one that entered the home of Richard and Elizabeth Andross Sunday about 3:15 a.m. and the home of Ann and David Ackley on Harvard Street in recent days.

"Hopefully, [now] he'll stay out away from people," said Andy Timmons, the bear project leader out of Lancaster for the New Hampshire Department of Fish & Game.

He said the bear is essentially considered a "first-time offender," and he likes to give first-time offender bears, which are tagged for identification purposes, a break. But the next time, he would be euthanized.

In Franconia, there has been a problem with people feeding bears for several years, and that is what is drawing bears into town, he said.

He urges people to stop feeding bears so that they do not become a potential hazard and then have to be killed as a result of what started out as someone's effort trying to "help" them.

"People need to realize, they can't feed these bears," Timmons stressed.

The bear with an appetite for honeycombs and brownies had been entering peoples' homes the past week, and is the same bear neighbors believe has been frequenting their neighborhood, coming in to eat from bird feeders and more.

David Ackley, who lives on Harvard Street with his wife, Ann, said a huge bear entered their barn recently and was getting into bee-keeping frames his wife uses in her aviary hobby. He said the bear had eaten some honey out of the frames, and they figured he'd be back.

Sure enough, earlier this week, the bear was back at the Ackley's home. David Ackley said he was watching a game Wednesday night about 9 p.m. when he heard the noise that clued him into the latest bear break-in. After the bear had disturbed some of his wife's beekeeping frames, the couple decided to run their electric fence around the beehive. They set it up in front of their barn and around the side of the house.

"It's a pretty smart bear," Ackley said. "It figured out there was access to the barn through a sun room and it just tore the hell out of the door. I was listening for it, it was after dark when I heard it. I came out and walked into the kitchen, and it was out in the greenhouse, about 3 feet from the door I was looking through, surrounded by broken glass. It's a big, fat bear."

Ackley said he "banged on the door and flickered a flashlight at him and he took off." The couple's dog took off after the bear and "that was the beginning of our misadventures," he said. "They did a do-si-do; fortunately, he's a pretty quick dog."

Ackley said the bear is the same one that they believe was in the neighborhood about three or four weeks ago.

"Aside from the comic content, which is high, it's kind of a serious problem in Franconia," Ackley said. "The fish and game people that I've talked to and neighbors I've talked to believe the reason the bear is coming around is that people are either actively feeding him - and he's coming to expect food - we know or suspect that there are a fairly high number of people who are feeding this bear, and it's become very bold around human beings. I think in Franconia, right at present, there's kind of a need for public education."

Elizabeth Andross, who lives on Main Street, said a bear tried to get in the back door of their home Sunday morning about 3:15 a.m., and ripped things up but couldn't get in.

"He went around to the front door and pushed on it, and it opened," she said. "He ate a platter of brownies and cookies that were on the counter, and he took a bag of garbage out with him. He didn't spill anything. It was scary. It woke us up. We saw him. He took the garbage out and sat on the porch. My husband went out and got in his car and drove at him three times to try to get him move."

The couple's 15-year-old son was home at the time, Elizabeth Andross said. "I'm hoping they're going to do something about it. They need to."

Fish and game told the Andross family that the bear was now considered a danger because it is entering peoples' homes. "Last night, they did catch a bear," Elizabeth Andross said on Friday. She said they set up at the Cannon Mountain View Motel right on Main Street, right near the dumpster. The bear tried to get into the motel recently at their restaurant, she said. "We're not sleeping great, until they catch it. We're locking our doors now. I think if he got aggressive, he could get in."

"Franconia has a lot of problems," Timmons, the Fish & Game bear project leader, said. "The town is kind of split. The people down on the supermarket end of town don't want bears rummaging through their things, but the people up towards Route 141 - there are a couple of residents up there who actually actively feed bears. A few weeks ago we had to kill a female bear because of this. She would walk right up to people. They fed her at the DOT shed. It's been a big problem."

Timmins added, "It turns into where those bears begin to rely on people for their main source of food and they become more and more interested in what's around. This is tough, it's been a challenge for us for about the past three to five years at this intensity level. We do have a new feeding rule that was put into place a year ago and to date, no one has been brought up on charges. The people have been approached about it. The one that she fed since she was a cub, she was probably eight to 10 years old."

People can also help by removing bird feeders and by properly securing their garbage to keep bears from getting in, Timmons said.

If people have questions or need further information, they can contact Timmons at 603-788-3164.