The St. Regis Canoe Area is a popular destination for paddlers in the northern Adirondacks. But the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation closed some campsites on Long Pond this week due to a nuisance bear.
DEC Regional Wildlife Biologist Paul Jensen tells WAMC North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley that since their initial advisory was issued, the bear problem in that area has been solved.
The Region 5 Wildlife Unit mobilized staff yesterday and we had two crews that went back into this area near campsites 5 through 11 and we had a culvert trap set up at one of the campsites. And I received a report this morning that our staff successfully captured the target bear that was present at Long Pond and we humanely euthanized the animal this morning.
Oh, why did you do that?
Well, unfortunately, in these situations where we have bears that learn these bad behaviors it's impossible for them to unlearn these behaviors. And so we have a statewide black bear response manual and standard operating procedures that we use in these situations. And this bear was categorized as a bear that had become aggressive, presents an imminent threat to human health and safety. And so in these types of situations, it necessitates euthanizing the animal because there really is no other option, unfortunately.
What was the bear doing? Why was it considered a nuisance?
The bear has been aggressive with bullying campers off of their campsite, some other aggressive posturing, not responding to loud noises. In one situation, it was actually pepper sprayed by a person. It left the area for a short period of time but immediately returned. And in one situation, it approached somebody so close that the person had a firearm and was yelling at it. It didn't respond and it got within about five yards from this person. And the person discharged the firearm in the air and the bear briefly left and again came back. So, we have a bear that essentially has been habituated to human food. And it's really a human issue. The food wasn't properly secured. There were several observations from staff that there were several campsites that were not properly storing their food and so this bear was gaining easy access and had learned to be aggressive and bully people off their campsites.
This is occurring only in campsites 5 through 11 in the Long Pond camping areas. I know you mentioned some people weren't following all of the correct rules to avoid bears, but is there something else going on that's drawing this bear to those specific campsites?
Campsites 5 through 11 that was sort of a hot spot for the bear, but we have data that indicates that this bear was using a much bigger area and was also reported at other campsites, both in the Long Pond area and also in the Floodwood Pond area to the south.
Well, Paul Jensen, the advice from the DEC is to exercise the utmost caution. You mentioned that some of this is occurring because humans are leaving food around; they're not storing their food properly. What should folks be doing to, as the DEC put it, exercise the utmost caution?
That's a great question, Pat. And the public can do a lot to minimize these occurrences with bears. Really put simply, we're asking the public to be bear-wise. This is, in fact, the name of a national education and outreach program that the DEC is involved with to reduce these types of conflicts. And in this particular situation on Long Pond, where we have campers, they're accessing this remote area by boat and so we recommend that they only bring in the amount of food that they'll actually use during their camping trip and also an amount that can be properly stored in bear-resistant coolers or canisters. Now, secondly and this is really important as well, is that we ask the public to report bear observations. This type of information is extremely useful for knowing where and when to respond and to have forest rangers patrol and it also provides a record for tracking changes in bear behavior over time. And ultimately, if we receive these reports in a timely manner, in many situations, steps can be taken that will be much more effective in situations where we catch the problem early.
Jensen says they are working towards reopening the campsites, possibly by Saturday.
