While walking my dog in March, I found a dead bear. More precisely, the skeletal remains of a bear. The bear had most likely been hit by a vehicle and made its way partly up the steep hillside off US Hwy 160 before expiring. Two faded, blue ear tags dated 2005 and numbered 75 were lying next to the sun-bleached skull.
That’s not even the weird part.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife was nice enough to invite me in 2005 to see the process of relocating a bear from its capture site. The bear I saw, a female, was one of two captured in Rafter J, after causing property damage to storage sheds and a vehicle, all of which contained food.
I have photos of the other bear, a large male, in educational presentations I make to the public. That bear, transported and released well north of Dolores, sported two blue ear tags - dated 2005 and numbered 75.
In my talks, I mention that black bear relocation feels good and people demand it be done. But relocating bears is a band-aid approach to bear-human issues. Relocation has better success in younger bears more open to a change in behavior. (Anyone that's trained dogs knows training a puppy has better success than trying to correct bad habits in an older dog set in its ways).Studies have shown that around 85% of black bears relocations fail, as bears moved to unfamiliar habitats continue their problematic behavior in a new location, get killed by other bears or most likely, make a beeline back home to the habitats they grew up in and know best.
Bear “2005-75” is an example. This bear made the 50+ miles back to its original home range only to, probably, meet its fate with the front end of a vehicle on a dumpster-laden stretch of US Highway 160. Bear “2005-75” was, at a minimum, twice a victim of bear-human conflict.
Bear “2005-75” is an example. This bear made the 50+ miles back to its original home range only to, probably, meet its fate with the front end of a vehicle on a dumpster-laden stretch of US Highway 160. Bear “2005-75” was, at a minimum, twice a victim of bear-human conflict.
Instead of demanding that a state agency solve problems we’re creating maybe we should focus efforts on not attracting bears with foods, (like food stored in sheds and vehicles for instance), in the first place. Just a thought.
Bear relocation photos courtesy: CDOW, 2005.
