Don’t feed the bears!
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Robert Sisk / News Virginian
Published: July 22, 2007
However, wild animals receiving plush treatment can turn into a nightmare.
Jennifer Hensley and her husband Thurman are wildlife enthusiasts and avid hunters. Their den in their Grottos home is covered with hunting trophies and pictures of local animals that Jennifer took on her expeditions in the backyard.
But on one day in autumn, their lives were changed.
While on a hunt with some friends, Thurman shot a 600-pound black bear. He and his companions went on to track the beast like any other hunt.
"When they got up to him, not only did he not run from him, he would bed down and wait for them and charge them," Jennifer said. "He was more like a grizzly then a black bear. Now the bear was wounded and, yes, it was hurt and angry, but it didn't have any fear."
The bear attacked and mauled Thurman, ripping his body apart like a chew toy before one of the other hunters were able to rescue him.
Today, Thurman uses a cane to help support his body.
After the attack, Jennifer, a writer who had an outdoor column for a local publication for 12 years, de-cided to go on the offensive and warn the Valley to stop feeding the bears.
"People feeding bears are causing problems not just for people but for the bears as well," Hensley said.
While leftover fields and pet food in the yard are less obvious ways that humans are taming bears, some are even as bold to try and train a bear to eat out of their hands.
"Maybe four or five years ago we had some people - that were just enthralled with the bears and they started feeding them. Last year the guy had a picture of him hand-feeding one of the bears. It would take a real idiot to think that they are making pets of them."
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries doesn't categorize Thurman's attack as an un-provoked attack, nor can say for sure that locals feeding bears helped the attack.
"You might be endangering yourself," said VDGIF regional biologist David Kocka, "There's not real hard data on that, but you are endangering the bears and he will be seen as a greater threat by John Q. Citizen."
Now that the bears have been getting used to being fed, they are getting used to humans. Black bears are typically quiet and skittish and when approached will run off to hide.
"You humanize them," Jennifer said. "They are no longer wild animals, they are no longer out there scavenging and doing what is natural for them."
Kocka concurred with Jennifer.
"It breaks down what I would call a natural distrust," he said. "They don't like humans, like most wild animals, and you can erode that. That's why when you go to Shenandoah National Park the signs say don't feed the bears and properly store your food."
The humanization of the bears is especially dangerous for hunters and hikers.
"This bear didn't have the look in his eye, it had a look of piercing hate," Jennifer said.
Jennifer will be the first to admit that what happened to her husband was just a culmination of events.
"Bears as a rule don't act like this," she said. "I don't want to create a panic. I don't want people to go out and shoot bears on sight. We don't do it."
Instead of bears retreating into the forest during the winter to take advantage of the yearly acorn drop, they are waiting around homes and subdivisions for a free meal. The Hensley's aren't even able to take their youngest grandson turkey hunting for fear he may be attacked by a lurking black bear.
Thurman had built a blind in a nearby field for the single purpose of taking his grandson hunting, but af-ter recent bear sightings, it was too dangerous.
"That was why he built that blind - so he could take his 10-year-old up there," Jennifer said. "There is no way because of the danger. The other grandson wanted to take him and we had to say no."
Many families that live in bear country don't even realize that they may be feeding a bear. Compost piles and leftover pet food can attract a bear looking for an easy meal. Not to mention the potential impact a bird feeder may have.
"If you have these feeders, it doesn't have a sign that says 'birds only' - you can get raccoons, skunks and possums," said Kocka. "Potentially you may have a bad situation with fox or skunk with an altercation with your dog and you have to get it treated. We have a fascination, which I don't understand, with feeding animals. These animals have been around 1,000 years, they do fine without us."
While bears can be dangerous, Kocka said that there have been only 59 attacks by black bears in the last 100 years and never an unprovoked attack in Virginia.
"Any wild animal is potentially dangerous, but that's just not the nature of a black bear," he said. " They are shy, secretive and can be active at night. Black bears are not to be confused with brown, grizzly and polar bears. Polar bears see humans as a nice meats source, brown bears are more temperamental, they are more protective of their cubs. Female grizzles are a whole different story."
For more information about the penalties for feeding bears, go to http://www.dgif.state.va.us.
Contact Robert Sisk at 932-3568.
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