In this summer of the bear, we welcome the wise words from Katherine Eagleson from The Wildlife Center in Española — basically, urban residents should take a chill pill when it comes to the wild creatures. “The whole state of New Mexico is a wildlife corridor,” she recently told reporter Staci Matlock. “We need to help people learn to live with them.” Recently, the center has cared for some two dozen bears, most of them first-year cubs — an unusual number, to be sure. They have been brought in by unusual circumstances, New Mexico’s prolonged drought and lack of food in the mountains, but also townspeople’s lack of understanding about bears. With some 13 bears spotted wandering around Santa Fe lately, there’s a lot to learn. Eagleson’s message is that if the bears don’t find food and they aren’t sick, they will move on. By reporting them either to local police or to New Mexico Game and Fish wardens too quickly, bears are being separated from their cubs. That’s why so many young bears are at her center. (This creates its own problems, since to fatten up cubs, center staff feed them food. Not a good taste for a young bear to acquire.) Eagleson’s advice to humans is to let the bears alone. Shut the doors, let sleeping bears lie, so to speak, and eventually, the bear will move on. Of course, no one wants a child or pet to be injured by a bear, and the wild creatures are dangerous. Sneaky ones have been known to enter houses. At the same time, if humans keep their trash secure and their dog food indoors, the bears won’t find food and will leave. Residents should bring in bird feeders at night, too. Limit the food, and that should help eliminate bear sightings. Eagleson believes neighborhoods can be trained in how to react more calmly to wildlife invasions, reducing unnecessary calls to game wardens. She’s willing to begin training so nature and humans can coexist. Call it Wildlife Watch. We love the idea. The recent moisture will help the woods return to balance, where bears can find food and stay safely in their habitat. But that will take time. Until then, humans have to share their space with bears. Most experts don’t believe diversionary feeding is a good idea — dropping nuts or berries in the woods so that bears won’t wander down to town. In fact, representatives of the state Game and Fish Department disagree strongly with such groups as Sandia Bear Watch and the Sierra Club that say diversionary feeding would be worth trying. They believe the science isn’t there to support any human feeding of bears. We have disagreed, and argue that limited targeted feeding could help keep bears from leaving the woods and, importantly, would save the lives of bears. However, it’s true that few studies exist to either prove or disprove this notion. Wildlife biologists, rather than repeating the same arguments, should develop a limited study to try to determine whether diversionary feeding, for example, could keep bears safe in the Sandia Mountains. Bears are suffering and dying as it is, and experts might need different methods of dealing with extreme weather conditions and bear habitat. In the meantime, take Eagleson’s advice and let the bears alone (lock your doors, too). They will go home soon enough.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 01:58:23 +0000
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