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The American black bear occurs throughout much of the North America, from the Atlantic to Pacific, and Alaska to Mexico.
Two
decades ago, the black bear population in North America was less than
200,000. This was a sharp decrease from the 2,000,000-plus that lived
in North America before large areas of woodland were developed. There
are approximately 600,000 black bears living today.
Black bears were plentiful in New Jersey before people cleared nearly
all of the state’s forests for lumber, firewood, and farmland. New
Jersey was one of the first states to be settled by Europeans and by
1900, Europeans settlers had nearly eliminated New Jersey’s black bears.
People in New Jersey have witnessed first hand the increase in black
bear population as a result of the protection provided by “game animal”
status and forest maturation programs in Pennsylvania, New York, and
New Jersey. Forest maturation programs provide improved habitat because
bears like thick undergrowth.
Black bears inhabit the forested regions of northern and central New
Jersey. The bear’s favorite habitat is hardwood forests, dense swamps
and forested wetlands. Bears are also flexible and can live among human
development.
Bears are found primarily in northern and central NJ. As black bears
become more plentiful, they are beginning to occupy habitat in east
central Monmouth County and southern Ocean County. People have seen
black bears in Atlantic, Cumberland and Cape May counties.
State biologists estimate that there are close to 2,000 bears in New
Jersey. Because developers are constantly taking away forest and bear
populations are constantly increasing, bear-human conflicts are going
to increase.
Because more and more bears are moving into Monmouth County, I suggest
you go to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife website:
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/bearinfo.htm. This site has lots of
information on how to keep your property bear-safe, and steps people
can take to not attract bears to their back yard. The division’s home
page is www.state.nj.us/dep, and has lots of other good information.
The
black bear is about 5 feet long. Females weight between 90 and 400
pounds, and males weigh between 110 and 880 pounds. However, male bears
in New Jersey however, rarely get over 400 pounds.
The
adult black bear has small eyes, rounded ears, a long snout, a large
body, and a short tail. They have an excellent sense of smell, and can
pick up the scent of any type of food from several miles away and
follow it accurately back to the source even in high wind.
The
coat of a black bear can vary in color from white through chocolate
brown, cinnamon brown, and blond, found mostly west of the Mississippi
River, to black in the east and Canada. Black bears occasionally have a
slight white chest blaze.
While black bears are able to stand and walk on their hind legs, they
usually stand or walk on all four legs. When they do stand it usually
is to get a better look at something.
The
black bear’s characteristic shuffle results from walking flat-footed,
with the hind legs slightly longer than the front legs. Each paw has
five strong claws used for tearing, digging, and climbing. One blow
from a powerful front paw is enough to kill an adult elk.
Bears see in color and have good close up vision, but can only see
about two hundred yards in the distance. However, their hearing far
exceeds human hearing. It is twice as sensitive and bears have a much
wider frequency range.
Their smelling ability is extremely good, about 100 times better than
humans. As I said above, the can up the scent of food from miles away
and follow the scent back to the source even in high wind.
They
are also very smart, and have excellent long-term memories. Their
ability to navigate is amazing, as they can remember the exact location
of everyplace they find food for a hundred miles.
Black bears are usually silent. They have a variety of grunts when that
they use when they are happy. And rarely roar as in the movies. When
they are frightened, they clack their teeth and make loud blowing
noises. They don not threaten by making growling noises except in the
movies.
One
of the greatest misconceptions about black bears is that they are
highly likely to attack people in defense of cubs. This is a grizzly
bear trait. 70 percent of human deaths from grizzly bears are from
mothers defending cubs. Black bears are not as aggressive and most of
the time a mother black bear will “bluff” charge, trying to scare you
away, not kill you.
Because black bears are much less likely than other bears to attack,
“playing dead” is never an appropriate response with them! When they
attack, they are doing it for a reason and won’t be fooled by playing
dead.
Instead, back away and make a lot of noise by yelling and banging metal
if possible. Most importantly, retreat noisily when one approaches.
But, don’t appear weak. The black bear should move away as you move
away.
A
black bear calmly and steadily approaching who is not bothered by
yelling or thrown objects should be considered extremely dangerous.
(Buddy Amato lives in Hazlet. He operates Amato’s Karate and Weapons Academy. For more information call (732)671-9555.)
Copyright Buddy Amato
Amato's Goju-ryu
Karate, Nunchaku, Bo-staff, Aikido, Sword, Kendo, Sais, Kick-boxing, Tai-Chi and more
589 Palmer Ave, Keansburg and is the author of Buddys Animal Kingdom, NJ 07734
(732) 671-9555
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