Prepare for Bear Sightings

Woody the Maplewood bear probably felt like a character out of The Hangover.

He woke up in an unfamiliar place.

He had a tag in his ear.

His tooth was missing.

He couldn't remember how he got there.

But at least the young was alive. Not all bears found encroaching on the suburbs are so lucky.

Easton police recently shot and killed a young bear when a conservation officer was unavailable to come tranquilize it, The Morning Call reported Friday.

Rick Macklem said Pennsylvania's black bears are rarely dangerous to the public.

"It takes a lot to get a bear to attack you," said the Bucks County conservation officer. "Unless it’s a mom with cubs. She will do everything she can to protect them."

It's a conflict that is likely to escalate over the next several weeks as bear mating season begins, Macklem said.

Based out of Buckingham Township, Macklem covers Bucks County from Plumstead down to Bristol for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Though Macklem has some volunteer deputies, that's a big territory for one person to cover, and this is the busy time of year for bears.

Based on calls to police, Macklem thinks at least three more bears are roaming the area - one in Doylestown Township, one in Buckingham/Solebury, and at least one in the Newtown area. He predicted that residents in Central Bucks County will see more in the coming weeks.

"When it comes to bears, it’s going to be Solebury, Plumstead, Buckingham, Doylestown – pretty much anything above Wrightstown," Macklem said. "They all came from the Solebury area."

Most of them will be young bears, under two years old, looking to establish their own territory after their mothers give them the boot, Macklem said.

That's because mama bear is coming into mating season, he said. Suitors would be more likely to kill her offspring than cuddle them.

So the young bears strike out on their own. Sometimes they end up in the wrong place, as two bears did this week.

One wandered through the Maplewood neighborhood on Wednesday evening (Editor's Note: I've dubbed him "Woody.") Doylestown Borough police officers cornered him in a backyard and kept watch over him as he hid in the corner until Macklem and fellow conservation officer John Papson, who is based out of Quakertown, could arrive to tranquilize the bear. He was relocated on Thursday to state game lands in Schuylkill County.

While the bear was tranquilized, Macklem put a tag in his ear and pulled his tooth.

The tooth has been sent to a state lab for analysis. A vet tech will be able to tell how old he is from the rings in his teeth, which form just like rings in trees, Macklem said.

The ear tag identifies the bear in the state game commission's system. If he's ever caught again in Pennsylvania, wildlife officers will be able to learn a lot about bear behavior.

"They're going to get a weight measurement and compare it to see how much weight he’s gained since he was trapped here," Macklam said. "We'll learn about his range based on where he was released and where he was trapped again. We get a lot of information about the bear" from the tagging system.

A second bear was spotted in the Doylestown area on Thursday near Lenape Middle School. It then headed off into Doylestown Township, perhaps making for the Pine Run reservoir.

Bear sightings also were reported in the Newtown and Wrightstown area this week.

So what should you do if you see a bear? Here's Macklem's advice:

• Leave it alone, and it will probably leave you alone. Black bears typically are afraid of people and will avoid them whenever possible, Macklem said. Mother bears with cubs are the exception; give them a wide berth.
• Don't follow or harass the bear. (See No. 1.)
• If you end up in close proximity to a bear, clap your hands and shout. The noise will probably scare it away.

Macklem also recommends taking down bird feeders, which attract the bears. They also are drawn to trash cans, so keeping cans secured inside until trash pickup day also is a good idea, he said.

Learning more about bears and understanding what drives their behavior will help humans and bears co-exist peacefully, he said.

"They’re just trying to find their way," said Macklem. "They may cross a few backyards, maybe get into a little bit of trouble along the way. But they’re just trying to move through to find a place of their own."

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