WILD NEIGHBORS
Black bears take a liking to the suburbs
Urban sprawl is often blamed for wildlife-human conflicts. But throughout Pennsylvania, it’s the suburbs that are drawing black bears.
Despite two centuries of habitat loss, the state’s bear population has quadrupled to more than 20,000 since 1981 when a science-based bear management plan was launched by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. It is believed there are more bears in Penn’s Woods today than at the start of European colonization. Wildlife agencies across the country consider that a significant conservation achievement in America’s sixth most populated state.
As black bears spread southward into inhabited areas, they’re seen more often. Every spring and summer, young males travel in search of territories of their own, making news when they’re spotted climbing backyard trees, turning over garbage cans or lumbering down streets. In Pittsburgh’s northern, eastern and southern suburbs, bear sightings have become routine.
To stop bears from moving into heavily populated counties, special hunting seasons have been created, and there’s evidence they’re working. Wildlife Conservation Officer Matt Kramer, whose jurisdiction includes Allegheny County and its fringes, said new hunting seasons are most effective with bears that have settled uncomfortably close to humans.
“When local individuals say they’ve seen a bear multiple times — bears repeatedly hitting a corn field, hitting a dumpster — those are resident bears. Keeping them out [of populated areas] is what we as an agency are hoping for.”
But increased hunting doesn’t work as well with those he calls transients — “nuisance bears passing through and hitting beehives and bird feeders.” Game Commission policy is to chase off transient bears, except those showing unusual aggression toward humans. Those are killed. The black bear ( Ursus americanus) is the only bear species living wild in Pennsylvania. It’s shy and generally wary of humans, and its color can range from black to cinnamon or blond. Some of the largest ones live in Pennsylvania: Adult males can top 800 pounds, and females weigh about 200 pounds. They can live up to 25 years.
Black bears will eat anything — berries, fruit, acorns, grass, carrion, corn and other agricultural products, even small animals when they can catch them. But they have a troublesome taste for bird seed, dog food, garbage and anything sweet, which they readily find in the suburbs.
Mark Ternent, chief author of the Game Commission’s successful bear management plan, said that suburbs are more suitable for bears than most people think. About 1,200 bear-related complaints are filed every year.
Since 2000, fewer than 25 bear-related injuries have been reported in Pennsylvania, and