The number of black bears is gradually increasing across the state.

All Points North stock photo

On September 2, 2003, a 29-year-old woman from Montreal, who was camping in the Adirondack High Peaks, encountered a black bear when she was cleaning her dishes near Marcy Dam. The bear attacked her, and she had two 5-inch scrapes on her upper thigh. Although this bear has not been found, the treatment that might be given to the bear is severe or deadly. However, is the bear the only one to be blamed?

At this moment, 4,500 to 5,000 bears have ranged through the 6-million-acre Adirondack Park, which is protected under state law. New York’s black bears are the only species of bear found in the eastern United States; an average adult male weighs about 300 pounds, and an average adult female weighs about 170 pounds. A 750-pound bear is the largest one reported in New York.

The black bears are omnivorous, and their food stock includes buds, flowers, leaves, fruits, nuts, honey, and colonial insects. The immigration and emigration are important parts of their lives to gain food, and black bears in New York are known to come from Pennsylvania and New Jersey along the southern border or from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont along the eastern border.

However, it is not so difficult nowadays for bears to obtain food because if there is a person around, there is food.

Kenneth Adams, earth and environmental professor from PSU, says, “Bears are very opportunistic. They try to utilize any food sources.” Recently, more and more people go to hike and camp in the Adirondack areas. Bad habits of people who throw and leave the garbage around are serious issues among the hikers and campers, and this attracts bears.

A watchful black bear perched in a tree. All Points North stock photo

“They are also very smart animals. They associate food with human because of the bad practices by many hikers who don’t take care of food properly.” Adams emphasizes we need to educate hikers and campers by informing the proper way to manage food that they bring on their trips.

Although the population of black bears in the Adirondacks is gradually increasing thanks to plenty of food and remote areas today, historically, bears have been terribly persecuted by humans and have been decreasing in number in the past. During the 1800s, 75 percent of the land, which was the bear's’ habitat, was cleared to cultivate the farm; at the same time, New York State paid hunters $10 bounty for each bear shot because bears were disturbance to humans, in terms of their habitats and similar food sources. During the early 1900s, black bears were temporarily protected as a “game species” for the hunters. This is what humans have done to the bears throughout the history.

In fact, black bears are not a kind of animal that attack people. They, rather, try to avoid seeing humans in respect of their instinct. But now, what’s happening? Bears are willing to come close to humans and try to get food by offending them. What is the factor that taught bears the misunderstood way to get food – probably humans’ negligence? Unfortunately, humans are still trying to do what they have done in the past again. It might be easy to impose the fault on the bear, but think about this again. “Is the bear the only one to be blamed?”

See any bears in your backyard? Let us know!

 

Adirondack Park Quick Facts: The New York State Legislature created Adirondack Park in 1882. The size of the park is about the same as the state of Vermont: more than 6 million acres. Wildlife, such as black bears, white tailed deer, common loons, mergansers, bald eagles, fishers, and coyotes are plentiful in the park.