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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/1/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
June 13, 2003 Black bear population slated for checkup Study looks at mix with human population By Peter Rebhahn "We know it's a problem for people. We don't know if it's a problem
for the bears," said University of Wisconsin-Green Bay biologist Bob Howe.
Bears are being captured in 41-inch-diameter plastic pipe converted
to traps and then are being sedated. Field team members weigh the animals,
assess their health and take blood samples to learn whether they've been
exposed to diseases found in livestock and pets.
The study will use satellite technology to track the movements of 20
radio-collared bears — 10 from a rugged area near the Forest County
hamlet of Argonne and 10 in the more populous Lakewood-Townsend area of
Oconto County. Researchers will track their movement in relation to people
and compare their health over time.
"Human contact is always more of a threat to the bears than to the people,"
said Chris Katz, a Two Rivers veterinarian and field team leader who approached
Howe with the idea for the study.
The U.S. Forest Service will partner with UW-Green Bay in the study.
The state Department of Natural Resources has blessed the research but
won't be taking part, Howe said.
According to the DNR, Wisconsin has a thriving black bear population,
currently estimated at 11,150. Most live in the state's sparsely populated
northern third, but the animals are expanding their range south, making
people-bear encounters more common.
"The standard answer is that bears don't do very well around people,"
Howe said.
But opportunities to mooch from people, raid garbage piles and eat road-killed
deer might be spurring a population boom that may or may not be in the
species' long-term interests, Howe said.
The study will provide study opportunities for students. Senior biology
major Amanda Malueg hopes to be among them.
"This is a real project, not just something from a class," Malueg said.
The team has already fitted three bears with collars and trapped and
released more than 10 others without collars — all males. The DNR
has asked the team to collar only females so that the agency can use the
data to study reproductive success.
Studying black bears is expensive and time-consuming, beginning with
the $4,000 cost of a radio collar, Katz said. Money to kick-start the
study has come out of Katz's own pocket.
"Funding is tough," he said.
Howe has his fingers crossed that funds will be found to run the study
for at least the planned five years. "We're hoping we can do this for
many years," he said. "The best bear work out there has been decades-long."
Adopt a bear
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