Bears in Bankhead?

[Pathfinder]

Earlier this year Uncle Wayne mentioned in a post on this forum that some friends of his had photos of bears in the eastern areas of the Bankhead.  Does anyone have any further info on bears in the area?  How about posting photos.  I've always felt that bears could find a good home in the bankhead, but I've never seen one there.  Can anyone provide more on the topic?

[SmokeDiver]

If they are out there I hope I never meet one 

All kidding aside I've always wanted to spot a black bear, just at a great distance. If they are out there I'm sure someone could find some sign of them, I imagine their tracks stand out.

[DavidR]

I've done much research on the wildlife of Bankhead and read no credible mention of bears.

[Cuffs]

I have not seen, heard or heard about bears in Bankhead.  However the bear that was killed in Athens, AL (due north of Bankhead) a year or so ago was ear-tagged.... from FLORIDA!!  That particular animal probably passed thru that area.   

[weathermansam]

The photo that I saw online, whomever's hand was in the photo for reference obscured the paw print.  


http://www.flickr.com/pho...lfmanfrombama/1874238025/

someone there mentions seeing one....hmmm.... still can't find that photo I saw a long time ago though...

[jaybird]

Found a snippet in an article from 2008 mentioning this:

"...a June 14 incident in Lawrence County when a tourist walked into a bathroom at the Bankhead National Forest to find what officials believe was a 4-month-old black bear cub...."

The rest of the article is in the paid archives. :-(

Also, this article from May of this year regarding 50 sightings in the Gadsden area.  Those bears could easily venture over to the Bankhead since the area in-between is rural:

Bear sighting no surprise to wildlife biologist

By Lisa Rogers
Times Staff Writer

Published: Friday, May 15, 2009 at 8:44 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, May 15, 2009 at 9:03 p.m.
A wildlife expert said he believes black bears are in Northeast Alabama to stay.
There were about 50 calls of sightings of black bears in Northeast Alabama last year, said Tracy Nelson, wildlife biologist with the Alabama Department of Conversation and Natural Resources.
That is up significantly from about four years ago when Nelson first started keeping track of bear activity.
An Attalla street department employee saw a black bear early Thursday in a neighborhood near First Street and watched the bear come from between two houses and cross Preston Avenue, go through a couple of grassy alleys and run into some nearby woods.
A Gadsden family spotted bear tracks behind their home Friday evening.
Rhonda Simmons said there were three pairs of tracks on her property between Charles Street and Perry Street.
"I just can't believe it," she said. "It just blows my mind. I don't think it's the same one they spotted in Attalla. I don't see it traveling that far. It makes me wonder if (there are) more in this area."
Nelson, a conservation enforcement officer and wildlife biologist, said he first started to keep track of reports after a female bear den was discovered in Cherokee County.
The bear had three cubs, he said.
He said those cubs, now adult bears, have probably populated.
"They have a really big home range," he said. "They can travel several square miles in a given time. Those cubs have dispersed and established their own ranges."
He said the bear seen in Attalla could be one of those.
There was a report from the Gadsden area last year and there have been several reports from the Tabor Road area, Nelson said.
When Nelson first started tracking the bear sightings, he believes most of the bears were transient - moving through the area from Georgia and Tennessee.
Most of those sightings were in spring.
"But the nature of the calls have changed," he said.
"People are encountering them in spring and summer and that would lead me to believe they're here to stay," he said. "A few are finding new territories to make a new home."
Nelson said it is important for people to understand that bears rarely come in contact with people and rarely are seen in populated areas.
The black bears of this area are mainly vegetarians and do not exceed 200 pounds, he said.
"They eat nuts, leaves and scratch around for grubs," he said. "It's not like an aggressive predator that is going to eat flesh."
Bears don't generally go to populated areas, but when they do, it is usually after food, Nelson said.
"They're going to get away from people as a general rule," he said. "If you leave dog food or scraps, that might be why a bear is hanging around."
Nelson said increased bear sightings in Georgia and other nearby states indicate that more bears could be making their way into Alabama.
Development most likely has driven the bears from their habitats.
They tend to follow river systems and streams, Nelson said.
Georgia has established a legal bear season in Floyd and Chattooga counties to keep the bear populations in check.
Last year more than 300 were legally harvested, Nelson said.
He said the number grew in North Carolina to more than 1,800 legally-harvested bear last year.
Bears still are protected in Alabama and not considered a game animal, Nelson said.
"We're not anywhere close to where we're going to have a nuisance," he said. "A few are finding new territories to make a new home. Some people get a little nervous, but they're no more of a threat than having a deer in the area."
People should use common sense by keeping garbage in an enclosed can.
"Just be aware of what attracts bears," Nelson said. "If you see one, give it plenty of space. You don't have to grab a gun to defend your life."
The black bears in this region are not the brown bears of the west and are not likely to attack, Nelson said.
"It's not impossible, but it's very unlikely that they're going to attack someone," he said.

[DavidR]

Wow. Thanks for the info

[WolfVanZandt]

One of the few places that I disagree with Doug Phillips is where he said in one episope of Discovering Alabama that the only colony of bear in Alabama was in the northwestern part of the state. actually, I've seen evidence of bears in eastern, southern, and central Alabama. There was even a Bear Crossing sign just north of Mobil a few years ago (may be still). I was curious about it and finally found a ranger down there that knew about it. They were working on some bridges just north of Mount Vernon and every afternoon a family of black bears would walk out of the woods and watch them work and then disappear back into the woods.

We have "spirit bears". They're there but no one ever sees them. They're smarter than the average bear.

[weathermansam]

i kept diggin', and found this....

http://www.waaytv.com/global/story.asp?s=8499914

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAAY) - Animal Control officers need help tracking down the person who dumped a baby bear cub into the Bankhead National Forest over the weekend.

Early Saturday morning, the approximately 4-month-old cub was found by a tourist passing through in the forest. It's natural for black bears to live in the area,  but that wasn't the case for this cub.

"[The tourist] went into use the bathroom and I guess the baby bear did what he did in there -- he throws up his hands and comes at you," said Lawrence County Animal Control officer Carolyn Atchison. "He slung the door [shut] and thought, 'Well, the mother bear could be around.'"

But there was no mother around. Atchison said she believes it was sold on the pet trade market days after it was born. She said she can tell the cub was born in captivity because of its relative ease in front of television cameras a couple of feet away.

"At that point it would still be wild," she said. "It would be running wall-to-wall scared, and it's not."

The cub is 10 pounds underweight and has little energy. It also has an eye infection that needs treatment.

Atchison said she believes someone bought the cub and realized after a few weeks that a bear cub could be dangerous. So instead of getting caught for illegal ownership, they dumped it off.

"You cannot sell indigenous animals in Alabama, nor can you transport an indigenous animal from another state into Alabama without a permit," she said. "So we know this person has committed several different felonies."

The cub cannot be returned to the wild. Once he is stable, state conservationists will find a permanent home for the cub.

Anyone with information on who may have owned this cub is asked to call the Lawrence County Animal Control office at 256-974-9442.

[Firedog]

are there any other species of bears native to Alabama. Reason I ask is I remember when I was a teenager in the 70's I would go coon hunting on Coldwater mtn near Anniston. On one occasion the dogs bay'd and had tree'd a bear. It was small about 40 to 50 lbs. and was brown in color. One of my friends uncles called it a honey bear and said there were several seen around over the years but were rare. He said that was about as big as they got. I've never seen one since and haven't ever heard of one sighted. Coldwater mtn has since been purchased with Forever Wild $ and access is pretty tough.
Coldwater Mtn is a very unique place and has never been a popular exploring destination because it was private in years past. Now it is FW land and would be a great place to ramble. There are several old trails and single track roads that dissect the mtn but it has some tough elevation changes. There are also 2 lime sinks that are kinda cool to see. The elevation rises to 1000 to 1200 agl but what a view.

[dogwood]

Firedog,
    Sounds like we need to get together and do a little hiking on Coldwater, some time!  I live just a few miles from the mountain.  Would love to see those lime sinks you were talking about...

[jaybird]

Hey, I'd love to get in on that as well.  That's one of the few places in AL i haven't been!  It sounds incredible!

[southmark]

One of the few places that I disagree with Doug Phillips is where he said in one episope of Discovering Alabama that the only colony of bear in Alabama was in the northwestern part of the state. actually, I've seen evidence of bears in eastern, southern, and central Alabama. There was even a Bear Crossing sign just north of Mobil a few years ago (may be still). I was curious about it and finally found a ranger down there that knew about it. They were working on some bridges just north of Mount Vernon and every afternoon a family of black bears would walk out of the woods and watch them work and then disappear back into the woods.

We have "spirit bears". They're there but no one ever sees them. They're smarter than the average bear.

Supposedly a population of around 250 in the Tensaw Delta.

[Cuffs]

Black bears can actually be brown in color.  I don't think there is another species of of bear other than black here

[Pathfinder]

Supposedly a population of around 250 in the Tensaw Delta.

Southmark, I have heard reports for as long as I can remember about a black bear population in that region.  I was not aware of the numbers. 

I am curious if the Alabama Dept of Conservation ever tries to relocate any black bears into new areas where they have not recently been inhabiting.

[Cuffs]

Interesting info...

http://www.dcnr.state.al....unting/articles/truth.cfm


http://www.alnhp.org/submit_query.php

[WolfVanZandt]

Frankly, I don't think we need to "reintroduce" black bear in Alabama because I don't think they've ever not been here (within the period of human settlement on the continent anyway.) They've certainly been around as long as I have. I remember seeing bear signs in Eastern Alabama as a kid, and I've heard old-timers (no, I am not!) talk about them as a kid. I've heard them talk about bear when they were kids.

[Magic City Matt]

Bears in Bankhead?

[jaybird]

Look on pages 3 and 5 of this guys thesis regarding Black Bears in the Southern Appalachians.  It a big file -- a little of 1 MB, but worth the wait.  Page 3 shows where black bears used to be in the U.S., while page 5 shows the active populations today.  Notice that the NE AL populations as well as any that have been talked about in Sipsey aren't shown.  They are most likely transient bears that are travelling outside their populations.  There are some pictures on down in the thesis that show where the male and female bears exist in the state.  Very few females.  I think that's where any reintroduction efforts would be focused.

http://sunsite.utk.edu/samab/saa/tankersley.pdf

[WolfVanZandt]

Hmm....that might be a good idea.

I doubt if bear population figures are very accurate, though and if bear wants to live somewhere else and just wander through occasionally, they probably have their reasons. I'm sorta skeptical that modern civilized humans can really do any good through ecological manipulations. Ecology is a science that gives us false security that we can do a lot more than we can actually do.