No sooner had I written an informational column about black bears in general and the one that is leaving his sign in Clarke County in particular (May 16 Meridian Star) than another bear shows up in Lauderdale County, inside Meridian no less! This appears to be a larger bear than the one that keeps leaving tracks between Meridian and Quitman.

Last week Brandel Russell found bear tracks on land in Lauderdale County he leases through Goforth Forest Management Inc. The tracks were in the portion of a large lease that falls within the city limits of Meridian. The location is in the southwestern part of Meridian and is not near residences.

Russell activated a trail camera near an automatic feeder he was using to divert deer from a large planting of soybeans that the deer were damaging. The first 24 hours produced four photos of the mature bear visiting the feeder. The bear eventually dislodged the camera, a common bear reaction to trail cameras.

On Wednesday of this week the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) set a trap near where the bear was photographed. These traps capture bears without harming them so they can be tranquilized and fitted with electronic collars. The collars allow the bears’ movements to be monitored which provides valuable information to the overall bear management program. On Thursday morning the bear was in the trap and MDWFP personnel traveled from Jackson to process and release the bear.

Suiting Up



The bear, a male and likely three years old, weighed 179 pounds and is in good health. Besides a tracking collar, the bear was fitted with informational ear tags and samples of hair were taken.

Brad Young is the MDWFP Black Bear biologist and he led the crew that captured and handled the Meridian bear. Young has published abundant information on Mississippi’s black bears and much of this information is available on the MDWFP website.

It should be noted that black bears have almost certainly been coming and going in our local woodlands for many years. On Thursday, the day the Lauderdale County bear was captured, Brock Shirley, Conservation Officer in Clarke County, made casts of bear tracks in Clarke County that were made by a smaller bear than the one whose sign keeps showing up there. Too, he made casts of tracks made by a larger bear known to have moved recently into Clarke County from Alabama. Further, a female bear with one cub was seen in Clarke County last year.

Note that there may be other bears in both Clarke and Lauderdale counties that have not been seen or left sign. With all this bear activity, no one has been attacked or harmed in any way and such an occurrence is highly unlikely.

Bears are shy creatures. They prefer to stay away from people and so we may not see them or their sign for years in an area where they live or often pass through. A study in Pennsylvania found bears in dens within 200 yards of homes the inhabitants of which had never seen a bear in the area.

The majority of Mississippi land owners responding to a questionnaire were in favor of encouraging increased bear populations in the state. Correspondingly the number of bears in the state is increasing. Frequent evidence of black bears in Clarke and Lauderdale counties indicates that trend.



Welcome Home



Those who value our outdoor resources are excited about the return of the black bear to our local woods. Active outdoor enthusiasts like hunters, campers, hikers, bird watchers, photographers etc. are particularly hopeful that black bear numbers will increase. Others more passive in their outdoor interests may associate the black bear with danger or think of it as an animal just to be hunted. We need to pass the word that millions of people in the mountain states and elsewhere live in black bear habitat and this writer cannot recall a case of even a minor problem making the news.

Accidents in the home and many other injuries would far outnumber any injury by black bears. And the rare incident is almost always caused by humans, such as feeding a bear that becomes aggressive in seeking the food or a sow bear feeling a need to protect her cubs.

As far as hunting a black bear in East Mississippi or West Alabama, there is no open season and the penalties for taking a bear are stiff (see accompanying notes on this page.)

While observing the Meridian bear being examined and fitted with a tracking collar yesterday, I was struck by the fact that some 20 persons gathered there in the woods spoke in only whispers until the work was finished and the bear was waking up. To me this was a collective expression of awe and the recognition that we were privileged to enter the bear’s presence for a brief time.

I felt that everyone there, from little children to seasoned woodsmen, held a high respect for the bear and its well being. It was a tribute to nature that I trust will prevail among all those who might enter the bear’s world in its future and act to give it every chance to live well in its natural home.





Mississippi Black Bear Facts



•Black bears in Lauderdale County and southward are considered to be the Louisiana sub-species. Bears in Kemper County and northward are considered to be the American black bear.



•Louisiana black bears are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The penalty for killing one is up to a $ 10,000.00 fine and one year in jail. State penalties apply to killing an American black bear.



•Bears cause almost no harm to humans. Turning over bee hives or damaging fruit trees can occur. Human injury is more rare that injury by deer for example.



•Mississippi black bears enter a variable state of hibernation from about mid December to the first of April. They sleep in brush piles, stump holes, caves and dug dens.



•Native Americans traded Mississippi bear pelts and oil to French and English settlers for guns, fabric and other goods in the 1800s. Clearing land for growing cotton reduced black bear habitat.



•Wade Hampton III, a former governor of South Carolina, settled near Greenville and is said to have killed or assisted in killing 500 black bears. He reportedly killed 68 in a five month period.