Black bear den season: part IV

This is my third and final installment of black bear den visits for the spring 2013 season. I had a good run with the NYS DEC Region 8 wildlife biologists and technicians. Their invitation allowed me a truly unique experience that many, including those "in the field", may not get to experience. I'm aware of that, and VERY grateful!

To catch up on my other black bear den experiences from this year and in the past, check out those entries here.

My first entry this season focused on the protocol of handling bear cubs, and what data is taken from them. My next entry was all about Mama Bear. Every piece of information that can be taken, seems to be written down. And why not? We have the time and the access to the bears while the mother is chemically immobilized. In this entry, I'll show you what this den actually looks like. Not all bear dens are created equal, keep that in mind.



The township of den visit #3 was in Cameron, NY.
Click to enlarge the image.

Often, when people think of a bear den, they think of a cozy, sheltered rock cave. This is rarely the case. I've not seen enough dens to know what the majority of black bear dens look like in New York. I've visited and seen with my very own eyes 5 black bear dens. All of them broke "convention", or what I made convention to be in my mind.

I think it's safe to say that all of them have some sort of protection from vegetation. In a couple of cases, it was thick, dense thorny branches. In one case, it was dead Christmas trees in a brush pile. In another, the den was underneath a blown-down dead tree. The bears seem to be way more exposed to the elements than is preconceived they would be.



Region 8 Wildlife Biologist Art Kirsch (left),
and Fish and Wildlife Technician Ron Newell (right).

The location of this den was in the township of Cameron, NY. This town seems to be in the middle of nowhere, and really to close to anything. Except maybe the Pennsylvania border!

We drove down a road (dirt, seasonal, 2-track) for a few miles and ended at a dead end which had one house at the end, and was surrounded by agricultural fields. The den was down a bit of a hill, and about 50 yards into the woods at the edge of the field. Standing at the edge of the field, I could see the den, once I knew what I was looking for, so it really wasn't far from the field.

Both of the above images were taken at the same spot. The top picture was taken to my left, looking into the woods.
The red arrow shows approximately where the bear den was located.
The bottom image was taken to my right, looking out at the agricultural field.

The whole process went smoothly- the team went in a successfully and safely chemically immobilized the mother, and the rest of us came in to handle cubs and take data down from them.

There were triplets at this den, but I could only get my hands on 2 at a time!
Photo credit: Marty DeLong

Meanwhile, the mother was under the case of the veterinarian, Dr. Jeff Wyatt, and vet tech Robin English.

I was invited over to get my hands on the mother bear. It was a really neat experience...most of the group was off to the side with the cubs, obviously preoccupied. But Art, and the vet staff were working on the mother. I kind of meandered over, and they invited me to listen to her heart beat. I'm not a mother, so I haven't heard the first sounds of my child's heartbeat. But, listening to that bear's steady heart beating was awe-inspiring.
Photo credit: Art Kirsch

At this den visit, the FLCC students and faculty did not attend. They had to get back to the college for classes, but since I was there on my own, I stayed for the entire day (this was the second den visit we did that day). They asked if I would be OK with taking down some data for them, in their absence. Of course I said I would, but really it was for selfish reasons. HAVING to take down data only gave me more access to the fun stuff. And this time it was data off any of the bears, it was the characteristics of the bear den.

When I was a student at Finger Lakes Community College, during my first full time semester, John (my professor) tasked me with revamping the "den data sheet". It's not in my nature to turn something down, so I started working on it. Looking back, in the fall of 2010, I had never USED a data sheet and had actually never even seen one. I hadn't experienced a den visit, or met any of the biologists. I really had no idea what I was doing. I had the old, out of date data sheet to guide me, as well as a 3" binder stuffed full of journal articles related to bear dens. "Have at it" I was told.

I distinctly remember sitting at a computer in the Conservation Department equipment room at FLCC in tears because I had been asked to do this, and I didn't want to disappoint, but I was lost. It seems so trivial and silly now, since I've created that new data sheet, and used many, many of them since for various projects. But at the time, it was very overwhelming.

So, to be able to take "my baby" into a bear den, alone, and use the protocol I wrote and take down the measurements, and read my own phrasing...it was a "moment". Nothing too profound, but cool.

Here's the den!

Instead of a rock cave, this is more likened to Bird Bird's nest! In the middle of the den is a digital thermometer reading the in-den temperature. To the right of that is some one's camera that fell out of a pocket when they were removing the bear from the den.

This is the view from laying inside the den looking straight up. As you can see, there isn't a whole lot of cover.
Precipitation comes right in...

Don't judge me! I'm in a BEAR DEN, people! You'd take a picture like this too!

Below are a few snippets from the data sheet, so you can get an idea of what types of information FLCC students are interested in. A current student of the Black Bear Management class at FLCC, just presented the class's findings of bear dens in the Finger Lakes at a national conference. It was really well received, and very interesting to see all of the data collected!

And so, another fantastic experience was coming to a close. Envious classmates of mine, current and past, keep telling me how lucky I am. I am a lot of things: grateful, appreciative and fortunate mostly, but not lucky. Luck would have been if I woke up that morning snuggled in with the bears in the den! The opportunities I've been presented were made with forged relationships (with generous, patient people), and persistence on my part. It's been number one on my bucket list to visit a bear den and handle a cub. And by the time I was at the 3rd den, handling cubs was not old news by any means, but I was comfortable enough to meander around the scene, taking in different aspects of the science taking place, and enjoying the wonder on everyone's faces.

After everything was wrapped up, the cubs were placed back with their mother. There are 3 in there, although just one little guy, probably only 6-7 weeks old, peeked back at me.

I lingered JUST long enough to get this shot of this bear family.



Black bear den season: part III

It's been awhile since I've been able to write. I had a busy weekend in DC at a conference, and also my power cord for my laptop shorted out and stopped working. BUT I'm back from DC and I'm all powered up!

If you want to get caught up on my 2013 bear den experiences, check out this link: bear dens.



Site of Den #2. Click to enlargen.

On March 14 and 15, I was invited to hang out with some NYSDEC biologists and technicians while they did some bear den checks. In this entry I'll outline my experience at den #2!

Den #2 was interesting because it was located about 80 yards from the landowner's house. It was just about in plain sight from the back of the house, although it was shielded a little bit by the thick brush it was in.

If the home owner's were outside talking, or their dog barked, the bears I'm sure could easily hear them. But, the sow (or mother bear) apparently wasn't bothered, and chose that spot to have her triplets.


FLCC student Judi McDougall attempts to access the bear den to take measurements.

In the last entry I focused mostly on what happens with the cubs during a visit. This entry I'll focus on mom. She really is what the biologists are most interested in I think. How the bear team finds the den is from tracking down mom, who is wearing a collar. This collar does sometimes need maintenance, or a battery change, so while the bears are semi-stationary in the den is the perfect time to do it.

On our lunch break, Wildlife Biologist Art Kirsch prepares the chemicals (a mixture of Ketamine and Xylazine) for the next den visit. The chemicals are then put into a dart which is loaded into a low velocity pistol or a rifle powered by compressed air, a CO2 cartridge or a .22 blank. The biologists aim for the bear's hip, which has a

Accompanying us on these visits are Rochester, NY Seneca Park Zoo staff: a veterinarian Dr. Jeff Wyatt DVM, and veterinary technician Robin English. Both are there with the animal's health and safety as their first priority.

A select few members of "the bear team" approach the den first. Art, technicians, and the vets go first. It's a tense few moments as they're trying to chemically immobilize the adult bear. Bears do not truly hibernate (see this blog entry: The true NY hibernators), so if spooked, and so inclined, they can get up and run away. So the team has to move in stealth mode until he/she is darted, and they've given it time to set in. If all goes to plan, the whole process should take about 20 minutes. Then the clock starts ticking. There's approximately 1 hour of time to work while the animal is immobilized.



From left to right: Robin (with her back turned),
Dr. Wyatt, Jeb (a Fish and Wildife Technician), and Art.

Dr. Wyatt and Robin are responsible for watching the bear's vital signs. This includes heart rate, breathing rate, temperature, and maintaining good oxygen levels.

Meanwhile, the DEC team is busily checking the collar, tagging the bear (if it hasn't been already), extracting a tooth for aging (if it hasn't been already), tatooing an ID number on the gum (if it hasn't been already), and gathering other data points. If some or all of these things have been done already, as was the case this time, "processing" the adult moves fairly quickly.

You might notice that the bear is laying on a silver space blanket. This provides a buffer between the animal and the cold ground. While under "the drugs", it cannot thermoregulate, or maintain a constant internal temperature. An animal can quickly become hypthermic if this step isn't observed. Also, between Art's hands is a red and green piece of fabric. This is a fleece sleeve that they slide over the face to protect the eyes. One of the chemicals in the cocktail paralyzes all muscles, so the bear can't blink. So to keep the bright light and debris out of the eyes, they use this sleeve or sometimes I've seen them place large band-aids over the eyes too.

I once got to take the temperature of a large male bear. Not orally. :)

 

 

The little gadget see above, is a pulse oximeter. If you've spent anytime in the hospital, you may have had this thing clipped to your index finger. It measures the concentration of oxygen in the bloodstream, and this one also monitored the pulse. Without this tool, the vet must keep his fingers on an artery almost constantly to make sure the pulse is steady and strong. He also kept pressing on a mucous membrane (commonly the gums). If they're bright and pink, there's a healthy oxygen level in the blood. If the gums are ashy and gray, we've got problems. So, this pulse oximeter is not an "instead of" tool, but an "addition to" tool. It also beeps outloud in time with the pulse, so you can listen instead of totally concentrate while pressing on an artery through the skin. They've never used one before, and weren't sure if it would work. There was a strong enough pulse in the tongue though, and all were pleasantly surprised with how well it all worked out.

While the bear is "out", they allowed me to explore her a little bit. When else will I get to look so closely at a bear paw?

Because this mother bear was mom to triplets, I believe (all the visits are blending together!), she was engorged with milk. Bear nipples are set up a bit differently than our domestic pets. She only has 6 nipples. Two are down low on her abdomen, and the other 4 are up high on her chest.

Her claws were beautiful. Not made for slashing prey, but more for digging. Bears are also extremely dextrous with their digits, and can pluck berries from a vine with their paws and their lips.

Jeb (on left) is now a DEC Fish and Wildlife Technician, but he got his start at Finger Lakes Community College and SUNY Cobleskill, just as I am. Jeb is fitting the new collar with fresh batteries. The "old" collar is at right on the ground. The collar's band is leather, but does have a canvas tab on it. If for some reason, the bear team can't get their hands on this bear again in the next year to change it out, and the bear happens to be on the loose and growing, that canvas tab can be torn away and the collar removed. It's always a risk when putting a multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment on a wild animal.

Danika Van Niel (my professor's daughter) hands a bear cub to Fish and Wildife Technician Ron Newell to be placed back in the den with mom. Once all of the "work" is done, the cubs MUST go back, although we may not want them to!
Photo credit: John Van Niel

A parting shot of the happy family, back in the den.
Photo credit: John Van Niel 

Yet another FANSTASTIC experience in the field with these people. I can tell you that it doesn't get old, and I feel so very fortunate to be included. Making connections with the right people, and a little persistence certainly pays off. Stay tuned for at least one more bear entry to come!

Black bear den season: part II

In my previous post, I shared with blog readers that I was afforded a very unique opportunity. I was invited to attend 3 black bear den visits where biological information is taken, and live bears are handled. I am VERY fortunate and very happy to share what I learned.

I’ll begin by explaining WHY we want to visit black bear dens and handle the bears. I had a very outdoorsy and wildlife saavy friend write to me and say “Not trying to be a buzz kill but this is a wild animal. Why are we handling them like a child or a pet? makes no sense to me that they are exploited to human touch and then hunted, killed skinned and eaten!” I will admit that at first, I got hot. Here’s a man who sticks out in my mind as a conservationist, and a life-long hunter and trapper…and yet he can’t understand that what I’m participating in is important to conserving wildlife?


Den #1 was located within the township of Almond, NY

Click to enlargen

In Western, NY and specifically the Finger Lakes region, black bears are moving Northward from Pennsylvania. Over the past 10-12 years they’ve really made a comeback. A combination of factors have influenced this. Many farms are being abandoned, and land is reverting back to how it was historically wooded instead of wide open agricultural fields. This is allowing the bears, and other animals, more cover and suitable habitat. I also think that bears are particularly adaptable. They are similar in feeding and human interaction habits to raccoons. Many people have preconceived notions that bears are vicious. ALL wild animals have tendencies to be vicious. Deer mice can act vicious, cottontails, foxes, and yes bears can act vicious. But black bears don’t TEND to be vicious, unless they are sick, wounded, or given reason to be defensive. I liken them to raccoons because often the most they are to humans are annoying. There are a lot of summer homes and hunting camps in the Finger Lakes that are seasonally used. Bears looking for a place to hunker down may break into these camps. And they love bird feeders, grills, garbage, cars with coolers, and all sorts of other treats that people living in this newly reclaimed “bear country” forget to put away. They’re really just like a 200 pound raccoon. Of course bears are capable of greater damage, so they’re often feared more than ‘coons.

Ok, so all that being said, since bears are moving back into “our” territory, the biologists of the Department of Environmental Conservation Wildlife Division strive to learn as much about their habits and movements as possible. The easiet and least invasive way of doing this, is to place a collar of sorts on certain bears. In Region 8, for example (which is where I visited dens), the biologists are monitoring approximately a total of 7-15 adult bears. Also, with some of those adults are cubs or yearlings…but those are not individually monitored. There are a lot of human-bear interactions, and also there is an interest in hunting black bears in New York State. They are considered “big game” , and to help control the population, there are hunting seasons, which you can view here: Deer and Bear Hunting Seasons.

To address a word that my friend used…”exploiting” the bears. I do not look at handling these bears and cubs as exploiting. Yes, we take pictures with them. But for them, it’s a moment in time. As Art Kirsch, Senior Region 8 Wildlife Biologist, told me that “the science obtained from monitoring these bears, far outweighs the inconvenience they experience”, which is very true. The adults are always immobilized with a cocktail of drugs. There is no safe way to handle the adults without them being immoblized. The cubs though this time of year are quite small and easy to handle. There is no reason to impose unnecessary risk (there's always risk with use of chemical immobilizers- bear, dog, cat, human) by immobilizing the cubs. The largest cub I think I handled was just around 6 pounds, and the smallest was 3.2 pounds. If any memories of these interactions with the bear biologists are remembered, it’s not of terror and panic. The animals are treated with respect, voices are kept low, and the adult bear’s eyes are covered to further keep it calm. Cubs are kept in fleece bags to keep them warm and secure.

A question I’ve been asked since I shared that I handled bear cubs is “Won’t the mother reject them with your scent on them?”…no! Please keep in mind that the protocol for these visits has the bear's health and safety as the first priority. The mother is handled the same as the cubs, her den is entered by biologists when she’s removed, and so everything and the whole bear family have human scent. Everyone is required to wear gloves, and “nuzzling” is prohibited. The team does not want the other people at the den visits, to "Disney-fy" the bears. Really there is nothing cuter than a 2 month old bear cub, but these are wild animals who are returning to the wild. They are not pets or cartoons. We do not name them, or kiss them, and hugging is ONLY allowed to keep them warm.We are handling these cubs to obtain data from them, as well as keep them warm while mom is being processed. They've never been out of then den before, and have never been away from mom's side. If for some reason the mother can not be handled (she runs off, for example), the cubs are not handled. It’s all of them or none of them. That way, everyone smells the same.

The whole experience takes less than 1 hour, as that is how long we have for the drugs to keep a hold on the adult. This is not a process that drags on for several hours, but is done efficiently and safely for all involved.

Now I know if you clicked on this post, you don’t REALLY care about all that I’ve written. You came for the pictures. I will describe my experience of den #1 through the captions. Also, all people mentioned by name are from Finger Lakes Community College (unless otherwise noted) where there is a Black Bear Management course offered. John Van Niel is the professor of that course.

 

In this massive brush pile of dead Christmas trees and other debris, a mother bear and 3 cubs are in a cozy den. Region 8 Wildlife technician Jeb McConnell along with Region 8 Wildlife Biologist Art Kirsch and Region 9 Wildlife Biologist Tim Spierto are searching for an access point to shoot the chemical immobilizer into the mother bear. Once the drugs are administered, they must wait 15-20 minutes for it to take effect.

After the sow was stabilized, I was invited to climb up on top of the brush pile (10-12 feet off the ground) to see the entrance of the den.

The veterinarian on hand, Dr. Jeff Wyatt DVM, of the Seneca Park Zoo, went 8 feet down into the den to watch the sow's vitals. She maintained a strong and steady heartbeat, and was breathing normally through out. She was not removed from the den, due to how precarious the brush pile was to maneuver. Jeff mentioned to me while I was taking this picture that he was almost 'hot' down in the den. Lucky, we were freezing out on top!



Art Kirsch, Senior Wildlife Biologist, has the second best seat in the house. Art held his post just outside the den monitoring all that was going on, and recording data from the sow still in the den.



When cubs are first removed, the are placed into a fleece sack as seen here. This helps contain them (they are wiggly) and keep them warm. Weights are taken for each cub, as seen here. Alicia Walker is reading the scale, as John Van Niel holds it. Ben Williams and Julia Lampman record data in the background.

Here John Van Niel removes the cub from the bag for a moment so that the cub can be sexed. I think in this case, it's a girl! Grasping the cub by the scruff of the neck is not painful, this is something the mother, like many other mother animals, do to move their babies when they are too young to move on their own.



Here, I am holding the cub as Alicia continues to take measurements. There is a hair length (from the top of the head) to ear length ratio that can be plugged into an equation, which can give a fairly accurate date of birth. Jon Muller and Kevin Skryzinski watch on, while Ben records the data.

Here John is readying me for the insertion of the Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag. This is very similar to a 'micro chip' you may have put in your cat or dog. It is not an active means of tracking the animal, but if the animal is handled again in the future, a receiver can be waved over the location of insertion (between shoulder blades under skin), and the unique ID

number can be read.



Cubs are born with blue eyes, as many mammals seem to be. I do not know why this is, but with age the eyes will likely darken to brown.

Once all data was collected from cubs and the mother bear, we formed a bit of a 'bucket brigade' from the ground up and over the brush pile to get the cubs back into the den. It was easier and safer than trying to hold your balance and keep your footing while holding onto a squirming cub. Photo credit: Julia Lampman

 

 

In total, the experience was around an hour and a half. That includes walking time from the road to the den, and the time it took the team to immobilize mom, wait for the drugs to kick in, and then for all of the data collection. It was one of those experiences that I could not WAIT to partake in, and then in a blink, it was over. BUT, fortunately I had 2 more dens to look forward to. I will be blogging about those experiences soon. Hope you enjoyed!

Black bear den season, part I

We all have bucket lists, right? Maybe some people actually right them out and check them off as amazing things are accomplished and experienced. Some of us might just daydream about “what if I got to…”, and if it happens, that’s awesome! And if it doesn’t, then oh well. Well I have a specific bucket list in order, but just filed away in my head. I’ve had this DREAM of holding a black bear cub for more than half my life. Summer vacations spent in the Adirondacks, always hoping for a chance sighting of a bear, started my love for bears. As I entered into college at Finger Lakes Community College, I learned of a course offered called Black Bear Management. This class is exclusively about black bears IN New York State. What could be better?


On Thursday, March 14th, my #1 bucket list item was mentally checked off.

Holding my first black bear cub.

Almond, NY - Photo credit: Alicia Walker

I held a bear cub.

Actually, over the past 2 days, I’ve held probably 7 or 8 cubs, and handled 2 Mama Bears.

Let me take a moment to explain how I got here.

When I took BBM in 2010-2011, during “bear season” which is Feb-March-April (depends on the year), I did not get to handle a bear cub. Working with wild animals guarantees no absolute results, except that they are unpredictable.

Bears do not truly hibernate (please refer to these posts for clarification on NY hibernators), so if spooked at the den site, they can get up and run.

And that’s what happened to the two dens I visited in the spring of 2011. Over the past 2 years, I’ve kept in touch with Art Kirsch, Region 8 Senior Wildlife Biologist for the NYSDEC. We’ve emailed, bumped into eachother here and there, and now we’re Facebook friends too, so we keep in touch often. I don’t know why Art invited me, but he did. He did not have to invite another person to these visits, especially since I had my chance, and we had naughty bears when it WAS my chance. It can be hectic at the visits with all that needs to get done, and the spectators that are there. BUT I made myself useful by carrying things, and lending a hand, and keeping cubs warm!

Through the rest of this post, and over the next few days, I’ll explain all that goes on at the den visits and why. For now, I’ll leave you with a few pictures and I hope that you’ll check back soon for more!

Black bear cub

Adult female black bear paw



Pure happiness.

My first investigation of a real, in-use bear den!

When I say, in the title, 'in-use' I don't mean literally at that moment, because Washington was sleeping off the effects of the tranquilizer in the culvert trap. If you're new to my blog, scroll back an entry or two, and get caught up on who Washington is, why I got to meet him, and what we did when we met him!

When I left off last time, Washington had been placed back in the culvert trap to sleep off the effects of the tranquilizer. This can take an hour or two, so in the mean time...the team and I went to check out his den that he had been using.

Perhaps 'den' is the wrong word to use, because it makes people think of the wrong things. I don't want to get all "science-y" and technical, partly because I don't want to misspeak, and partly because that's not what my blog is all about. BUT, bears are not 'true' hibernators. So...bears don't hibernate. One more time? American black bears, the only bear found in NYS, can not/does not hibernate. Also- in the combined experience of many of the biologists and researchers and people with field experience that I was with the other day, they had not seen a bear den in an actual cave. Many people get in their mind's eye that bears hibernate in a cave with a bouldered entrance, it's roomy, sandy, dark and cozy. Not the typical case.

So Washington's 'den', or more appropriately called a 'day bed' WAS partially under ground level. It was hypothesized by some that perhaps he had found an old coyote or red fox den and scooped it out to fit his massive body inside. That's pure speculation though. This bear hasn't been using this den for long lengths of time, because he hasn't needed to! Typically at this time of year, bears aren't feeding. There's supposed to be feet of snow and cold, frigid temperatures. But this day we went to see him, it was sunny, mild, and there were 20 bird feeders/bear buffet right across the road.

In this picture, JVN is checking out the den. I like this picture because some scale is given of the entrance size as compared to average human size.

I took this picture as I crawled in when it was my turn. The den was in a multi-flora rose patch- dense and very prickly. For a bear with a thick coat and skin, this is not an issue. For us though, it was a struggle to maneuver into position to check out the den.

This is a picture I snapped when I reach my camera in a took a blind shot. I couldn't lean into the den easily because of the angle, and because I was trying to avoid...

SCAT. Large, massive, piles of it were at the entrance to the den, as well as the area immediately outside of the den. It was full of bird seed, as that's what this bear's main diet staple has been for some time.

Photo credit: JVN

Thank goodness for those coveralls! I did get a bit muddy and...scatty...but I just peeled them off and I was good to go post bear den! I have to mention a few of my thoughts while examining the den. It was stinky: earthy, mud, scat, and bear. This bear smelled like a perpetual wet dog x's 10. I was looking for foot pads, which I've read the bears shed in winter. I've also read that sometimes they eat them? For many reasons, perhaps that's why I didn't find them. And also, I noticed the landscaping that this bear had done. In the photo above, of the blind shot into the den, you can see roots hanging that the bear had perhaps chewed off to make entrance and exit easier? Or maybe he just didn't like roots hanging in his face?

Outside the den, this large scat was found. Perhaps more than one episode, piled on top of each other. Notice my pencil for scale.

Here's another pic of the same, better color representation but with out pencil for scale.

Here are some of the bear team members: Matt (Cornell researcher), Scott (Region 8 fur bearer biologist), Jeb (Region 8 wildlife technician), Art (Region 8 Sr. wildlife biologist), Marty (Region 8 wildlife technician and unoffical photographer). They are standing in this large, widely trampled and flattened of area. I'm standing at the bear den looking back the way we came. Below is a closer look at that log.

Sign of much use. Worn wood and scratches, not from marking, but probably just from traffic over the log.

On the way in to the den site, we all had noticed this very cool tree that had been heavily marked. We determined this was a marked tree, rather than just a tree that had been climbed and incidental scratches were made. At the bottom of the photo, you can see some scratches. This is about eye-level for me (I'm 5'7"). Then another 5-6' up, another episode of heavy scratches. Above that, another 5-6', another episode of heavy scratches.

This is the marked area at eye-level.

A few swipe of the claws, below eye-level.

And then on our way out of the thicket/wooded area, there was a barbwire fence that was pushed down. The bear had been snagged, and probably more than once!

My final shot of the day. The bear team checking on Washington, making sure he's ok! He wasn't ready to be released yet...so the FLCC team decided to head  home for the day and leave the biologists to it.

And that concludes THIS bear adventure!