Black bear sighting in Staunton

Photo courtesy of Kristin Balsley

With the active black bear season this year in the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding mountains, it was only a matter of time before a bear was spotted in Staunton. Sure enough, that's what happened today as reports of a bear began surfacing around the middle of the day. The photo above was taken on North Augusta Street across from the Mary Baldwin College campus where the bear was seen on campus making its way toward Statler Boulevard.

I was talking with wildlife biologist and longtime friend Al Bourgeois from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries as we sat at dinner last weekend at a wedding in western Augusta County. He is one of the resident bear experts who has dealt with bears in this area for years. He said it has been a very active season as the hungry critters are roaming looking for food and, since there is very little natural food just yet, some are making their way to populated areas sniffing out garbage, bird feeders, and other edible goodies.

Bears are not unusual in this part of Virginia, and each year there are incidents with some years busier than others. This is one of those busy years.

Previous posts from Lynn R. Mitchell about black bears:
- Bears bears bears in the neighborhood
- If you live in Virginia, you're in black bear country
- Black bears in Shenandoah National Park
- Black bears nabbing pets in Augusta County
- The Journey: "More on snakes and bears"
- Black bears at Big Meadows
- Black bear population exploding in the Shenandoah ...
- Aggresive bear alert in Shenandoah National Park
- Bear attack in Augusta County
- Shenandoah ... where the deer and the black bears play....
- Black bear sightings in Shenandoah Valley
- Honey ... there's a bear in the storage shed....
- Black bear attacks hunter 

Bears bears bears in the neighborhood

Photo I took of mama black bear and two cubs at Loft Mountain Campground in Shenandoah National Park, October 2010
 

They're baaack. Black bears are roaming now that spring is here and one place they are being sighted on a regular basis is our little corner of Augusta County. Those critters are hungry and, while it's not unusual to have bear sightings here, this spring there appear to be more than usual, according to one of the wildlife biologists from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Black bears are extremely common in Virginia especially as their population grows and expands. These intelligent creatures are highly adaptable and quickly sniff out food sources to the point where they will remember and return until it is removed. If there are nuisance or returning bears, humans often are the cause by leaving garbage cans, pet food, or bird feeders accessible.

But sometimes bears are around even if there is not a food source. One neighbor heard a noise and looked out to find a bear on her deck. Recently local kids waiting for the school bus saw a bear in the field and, after they got on the bus, the bear ran across the road in front of them. What an exciting opportunity that was for a bus load of students!

Another nearby neighbor has motion cameras out and has gotten photos of a 400-pounder and others closer to 200 pounds. He has also found paw prints on his deck's sliding glass doors. Hmm ... that would give pause. Other neighbors have had their bird feeders torn down, and yet another even had the contents on the inside of his barn destroyed a few weeks ago when they were out of town. The bear(s) didn't bother their goats and cattle.

All this reminds of the humorous episode with SWAC Husband last summer when he had taken a break from working in the garden and was cat-napping in his garden chair. He woke to hear a snorting kind of sound and looked to see a black bear running straight toward him, obviously oblivious to the human in the chair, until SWAC Husband waved his arms in the air and yelled at him. The bear temporarily looked startled, then changed course and ambled away.

So today the wildlife biologist and a volunteer were notifying neighbors to store bear magnets like bird feeders and the grease traps from outdoors grills that would smell like a smorgasbord to a bear's ultra-sensitive nose.

I just wrote about black bears two weeks ago ("If you live in Virginia, you live in black bear country") and recounted a number of bear episodes in our area over the years. The natural wildness of western Augusta County with its national forests and rural spaces was one reason we chose to live here as opposed to the more urban eastern Augusta. It sounds like this year is a little more intense than in the past so we will keep a closer eye out even as neighbors are sharing encounters with one another for awareness ... and we will still enjoy watching these beautiful creatures.

Staunton: black bear caught at Gypsy Hill Park

It's been a year for bears as their numbers increase and they are found in populated areas including the city of Staunton. Monday, in Staunton's Gypsy Hill Park, a young black bear was tranquilized and captured by Al Bourgeois, a biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries ... something Al has done many times in the past. Read the article here.

Black bears nabbing pets in Augusta County

The bear population in Augusta County is booming so they have extended the harvest season ... the Waynesboro News Virginian has all the details about nearby goats that became a snack for the bears.

Three friends involved in this story ... Jan and Herb Harman who recently lost their pet goats to a black bear, and David Kocka with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries who answered the call about the goats taken by the black bear.

Other black bear posts:
- "Honey, there's a bear in the storage shed...."
- Black bear attacks hunter
- Aggresive bear alert in Shenandoah National Park
- Black bear population exploding in Shenandoah Valley
- Bear attack in Augusta County

Black bear population exploding in the Shenandoah Valley

Lee Blagg and area sheep farmers in Highland County lost approximately $20,000 worth of sheep last summer and fall because of a rogue black bear.

"When he wakes up in the spring, he'll be back," said Blagg.

The black bear population has steadily increased over the years as protected bears from federal areas venture beyond Shenandoah National Park and the Washington National Forest onto private lands, causing damage to crops and livestock.

Hunters killed 1,633 black bears last year with the bulk of them coming from Rockingham County.

Complaints of bears damaging agriculture have increased 44% over the past 20 years. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries tracks the bear population, trapping nusiance bears to relocate. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has been relocating bears for years, trapping and driving them deep into the national forests for release.

Al Bourgeois and David Kocka, Valley biologists with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, are the local experts who trap nuisance bears. They know first-hand the damage rogue bears can cause to farmers and domestic animals.

Last year the increased problems with bears may have stemmed from the lack of food in the wild including acorns, blackberries, blueberries, and black cherries due to a late April frost that killed blossoms on those as well as apple and other fruit trees.

When that has occurred in the past, black bears have been seen in city areas including once when a cub wandered in the open back door of the CVS Pharmacy on West Beverley Street in Staunton.

The state's Bear Population Control Program allows landowners to apply for permits to kill nuisance bears, and hunting season has been extended to decrease the numbers of bears in the Valley.

More information is available in the Waynesboro News Virginian and the Harrisonburg Daily News Record.