Black bears in our back yard
10:50 PM 6/29/04
Ron Seely Wisconsin State Journal

We're apparently going to have to learn to live with black bears in southern Wisconsin, mostly because the bears are learning they can live with us. <

Mike Foy, a DNR wildlife biologist, said numerous sightings of bears in Dane County and surrounding counties - including a sow with cubs near DeForest - may be a sign that bears are more adaptable than we realized. <

"What it may mean," Foy said, "is that the bears making the move down here are finding it suitable compared to a few years ago." <

The presence of several bears in southern Wisconsin this spring prompted the DNR to issue a news release Tuesday alerting people to black bears in our midst. More frequently associated with the state's North Woods, the bears are down here in the land of farm fields and oak wood lots. <

With more bears in the southern parts of the state, Foy said, people are going to have to learn how to live with them - be careful with garbage, don't approach the bears too closely, and be aware that they are likely to chow down at your bird feeder. <

In the meantime, Foy said, enjoy the moment if you do spot a black bear during its ramblings. <

"Count yourself lucky," said Foy. "It's a neat sighting." <

We humans have always been fascinated with bears, which, according to essayist Edward Hoagland, "appeal to a side of us that is lumbering, churlish and individual. <

"We are touched by their anatomy," Hoagland continued, "because it resembles ours, by their piggishness and sleepiness and unsociability with each other, by their very aversion to having anything to do with us except for eating our garbage." <

Wildlife biologists with the DNR want to prepare people for living with these new and shy neighbors who generally don't bother humans. <

"I guess it is just going to become a more regular occurrence," said Bill Ishmael, a DNR wildlife biologist who works from an office in Tower Hill State Park on the Wisconsin River near Spring Green. He's done his share of chasing bears through the countryside and kept track for some time of a bear that lived in a den not far from the park. <

Bears have been sighted this year enjoying the delights of southern Wisconsin in a number of nearby places, according to reports from the DNR. Dave Horzewski, a warden in Reedsburg, said he got a call about a black bear doing what lots of humans do during summer months - taking a dip. The bear took a swim this month in Lake Redstone, northeast of LaValle. <

"The person observed it leave the water, shake off and run into the woods . . . A day or two later a guy almost hit a bear, which he reported as a big one, on Highway 33 near Club 33." <

Other bears have been spotted near Portage in Columbia County, about a half-mile south of Ridgeway in Iowa County, near Dodgeville and near DeForest in Dane County. The sighting near DeForest was of particular interest to biologists because it was a female with cubs. Because bears have their young in the den during late winter, it is likely that the bear denned in the area, Foy said. <

Foy said bears may be checking out southern Wisconsin simply because there are so many bears now in northern forests. The DNR pegged the state bear population at 11,150 animals last fall. Hunters killed 2,380 bears last year. <

Just like wolves, foxes and wild turkeys, bears may be more adaptable to life in farm country than we have realized. Historically, bears roamed this part of the state, Ishmael said. And, he added, with more woodlands and more public lands, there are now plenty of denning sites as well as good berry and nut crops. <

That, he said, is a pretty good advertisement for a black bear looking to relocate. <

Contact Ron Seely at rseely@madison.com or 252-6131. <

Dealing with bearsThe DNR offers the following advice if a bear has been spotted near where you live: <