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GUEST COLUMN: Bear-human existence is possible

By Pat Summers, Special Writer
Too bad the young bear who visited Princeton last week didn’t bring along a sack of handouts about New Jersey’s black bears. Then those who mobbed the areas where it was sighted might have read and learned about these majestic animals.
Let’s see now … if they could speak, what would bears want to tell people about themselves?
• Possibly most important, black bears are wild animals, and, as such, they should not be approached, petted or fed.
• Despite the fierce (and false) image of bears perpetuated in the media, black bears are gentle, shy and timid. They can be deterred from approaching a human or encroaching on “human” territory by aversive-conditioning tactics. Their pattern when threatened is not fight, but flight — typically up the nearest tree until danger passes.
• Unlike grizzly mothers, known to attack in defense of their cubs, black bear mothers may “bluff-charge,” at most. In general, when threatened by another bear or human who’s too close, black bears may slap the ground or charge a short distance before fleeing.
• Typically, black bears become active a little before sunrise, may take a nap or two during the day, and head for bed soon after sunset.
• They prefer eating nuts, acorns, fruit, insects and succulent greens, but consume other things when preferred foods are scarce. Human food can be too available and tempting, helping to create “nuisance bears,” whose lives are then jeopardized.
• A useful rule toward black bears: live and let live, separately. Peaceful coexistence is desirable — and possible.
Any savvy black bear wishing to come closer to the 21- to 33-year life span that’s possible without human interference should stay below the radar of the Division of Fish & Wildlife. An arm of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, DFW recruits and licenses hunters. Animal-rights groups have accused the DFW of cooking the books” on the number of “nuisance bears” out there to help justify its notorious bear hunt.
All too often, DFW ignores non-lethal ways of dealing with bears, starting with enforcing the law against feeding them.
If that savvy black bear could talk, the first words might be: trust the true bear advocates, who are not hunters or hunt proponents. For two decades, the Bear Education and Resource (BEAR) Group has provided accurate information about the nature of black bears and peaceful coexistence with them. (www.bearsmartnj.org)
The BEAR Group is a division of the Animal Protection League of NJ (APLNJ), since 1983 a statewide, community-based educational organization to protect animals and their habitat. Development of “Bear Smart communities” is just one APLNJ initiative through its Black Bear campaign. For more information, go to www.aplnj.org