Pennsylvania Game News - July 2015 - 15

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LINGING to the higher limbs
of a large red oak, three tiny cubs
watched as we applied ear tags
and extracted a tooth from their mother, a
small female black bear that was captured
in a culvert trap baited with doughnuts.
The landowner had heard the trap's
heavy steel, guillotine-style door slam
shut and drove his farm truck out to investigate. His friendly Labradors followed
the truck, but their sudden appearance
frightened the cubs and sent them up
the tree.
A chest measurement estimated the
young sow's weight at 120 pounds. Her
thin frame reflected the physical demands
of nursing the three cubs. It was that
need for nourishment that put her in this
predicament. She was capitalizing upon
the rich and abundant fruits of a young
orchard.

BBB

Although the young tree branches
hung heavily with fruit, they could not
support the additional weight of a hungry
bear that craved the ripening peaches,
plums and apples. She had broken numerous limbs on some trees and snapped off
the thin trunks of several others.
One sunny afternoon, the landowner
watched her climb into a small tree and
tumble to the ground when a fruit-laden
limb snapped under her weight. The
upset landowner and his dogs chased the
sow and her tiny offspring away. But the
damage was done. And he knew the bear
family would certainly return.
The extent of the tree damage and
fruit loss motivated the orchard owner
to seek assistance from the local wildlife
conservation officer. Fortunately, I'd just
relocated another nuisance bear, had the
empty trap hitched to my vehicle and was
nearby when the complaint was passed on
JULY 2015

over the radio.
Within the hour, and with the assistance of the landowner and his friend,
the bear trap was set up in the shade of
tall oaks surrounding a small spring-fed
pond at the edge of the damaged orchard.
With the trap readied, we more closely
inspected the bear damage to the orchard.
It was extensive, to say the least. The
landowner's aggravation was heightened
by similar damage at another orchard
several hundred yards to the north. He
knew the sow was probably not the only
bear in the neighborhood. But she had
been caught in the act and he wanted
her removed.
Midafternoon the following July day,
a radio message from the Southcentral
Region's dispatcher informed me that the
orchard owner had heard the bear trap's
door slam.
Several minutes later, I received a
follow-up message: "You've got a bear in
your trap."
Indeed, we did and the small sow was
not at all happy about being separated
from her cubs and was very vocal about it.

BBB

The orchard owner and I, while
anesthetizing and processing the sow,
discussed the chances of the cubs surviving without her.
Watching them through binoculars,
we estimated their weight at about 20
pounds. We agreed the cubs' chances to
survive without the sow were tenuous,
at best.
As the sow began to show signs of
recovering from the immobilizing drugs,
we gently lifted her back into the trap.
The discussion on the bear family's fate
ensued.
Removing the young sow from the area
would very likely stop most, if not all, of
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - July 2015
