The baiting of black bears starts in April and goes through to the end of September. That’s roughly six months of intentional food subsidies being fed to a carnivore. Not to mention, that’s a lot of disruption to the black bear’s natural habitat. Over four million gallons of bait are dropped in the woods to hunt black bears. Bears are fed donuts, gummy bears, and cereal. Donuts have a high volume of calories, some doughnuts contain partially hydrogenated oils, which aren’t healthy for the heart, and most doughnuts are made with white flour. Glazed doughnuts contain 210 mg of sodium.
Female consumption of high-calorie food subsidies can increase fecundity (the ability to produce an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertility) and can train cubs to seek bear baits. According to the research this can increase a population above its ecological carrying capacity.
Black bears are omnivorous and spend spring, summer & autumn foraging for Native Forage, including known bear foods; berries, acorns, grasses and sedges, other plants, and white-tailed deer.
The three little bear cubs live with their mother in the big woods…
The Black Bear moves softly through the berry patch, showing her cubs the way, teaching her cubs where to find food, just like her mother taught her generation after generation, until…
The men laid out sweet-smelling donuts hidden in a hollow log that tempted mother bear, and she used her strong paws to gain access to the sweet-smelling treats. Thereafter, the silence in the forest was broken by the noise of hollering hounds. These hollering hounds chased mother bear and her terrified cubs through the thick forest. Their hearts beating fast as they tried to outrun the mob of noisy hounds. Along the way, a mother deer and her fawn were chased up by the mob, and soon the once quiet forest rang with the scent of fear. Mother bear sent her cubs quickly up a tree, made herself the decoy, and led the mob of hollering hounds away from her precious cubs. Exhausted mother bear climbed a tree, with the mob of hounds hollering below, the sounds of men are soon heard along with a shot of thunder ending mother bear’s life…
As the mother bear dies, she slips off the tree branch, hitting the ground below, and the mob of hollering hounds begin to nip and bite at her lifeless body. The men turned her lifeless body over, exposing her belly, and discovered they had killed a mother Black Bear by mistake, and it’s illegal to kill any Black bear accompanied by a cub or cubs. The men decide it’s an easy fix. They never saw any cubs during the chase because they lost sight of their dogs. High-tech collars equipped with radio telemetry tracking devices are used to track the dogs from up to five miles or more away during the chase. So it’s a good excuse for bear hunters to use for killing a mother bear because they never saw the cubs accompanying her.
The mother’s cubs cling to the upper branches of the tree, bawling loudly, but go silent when they hear the shot of thunder in the distance. The shot that ended their mother’s life silenced their cries. The nine-month-old bear cubs begin searching for the scent of their mother in the air around them. They’ve been taught to stay in the tree until she calls for them. The cubs sit quietly in the tree waiting for the all clear signal from their mother. It is unbearably hot in September, and the cubs are getting thirsty. They chew on tree leaves, just as their mother taught them, to get some much-needed moisture. The cubs wait into the night with no clear sign from their mother. During the night, the cubs are awakened by the sounds of brother wolf and sister barred owl. The cubs go silent when they hear these calls, just like their mother taught them to do. The cubs begin to feel hunger pangs in their stomachs as the first morning light hits the tree tops. The cubs bawl loudly, calling for their mother. Tears run down their cheeks. There is no sign of their mother. The hungry and thirsty cubs scurry down the tree trunk to the forest floor. They put their noses into the air and begin smelling it for any signs of danger, just like their mother taught them.
The thirsty black bear cubs catch the faint smell of moisture floating through the air and head towards it. They find an opening in the forest that leads to a small lake.
The video is from The North American Bear Center A 6-year-old wild black bear female with cubs of the year feeding on a variety of vegetation in the early spring.
The cubs will stay with their very protective mother for about two years. In those two years, she will teach them everything they need to know to survive. But what happens when two nine-month-old orphaned black Bear cubs are left to fend for themselves in the Wisconsin north woods? All because of men with hounds? This is a nonfictional story based on research of the natural history of Black Bear habits.
Today, where the wild-creatures-live has become a war zone in Wisconsin. And it’s all in the name of sport. In Wisconsin’s north woods, it’s common to see and hear hunters’ dogs running through the woods in pursuit of a bear. These hunters’ dogs disrupt families; bear cubs are separated from their mothers, foraging black bears are kept on the move, and how about the White-tailed deer forced to protect her fawn from packs of free-roaming hunting dogs in pursuit of a bear? Gray wolves defending their pups kill hunters’ dogs in a never-ending game played out in Wisconsin’s forests year after year.
Individual species should and must be managed for the good of the species and the habitat it depends. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources estimates; most recent data indicates the bear population is currently estimated to be just under 29,000 bears. DNR manages the bear population size through regulated hunting. In the end, black bears are managed for economic gain through hunting.
A cause for concern….
The baiting of black bears starts in April and goes through to the end of September. That’s roughly six months of intentional food subsidies being fed to a carnivore. Not to mention, that’s a lot of disruption to the black bear’s natural habitat. Over four million gallons of bait are dropped in the woods to hunt black bears. Bears are fed donuts, gummy bears, and cereal. Donuts have a high volume of calories, some doughnuts contain partially hydrogenated oils, which aren’t healthy for the heart, and most doughnuts are made with white flour. Glazed doughnuts contain 210 mg of sodium.
Black bears are omnivores that eat food of both plant and animal origin.
It’s no surprise that baiting black bears is a cause for alarm. It’s been controversial for several years. But what’s interesting now is that the research points out several problems resulting from the baiting of black bears.
Female consumption of high-calorie food subsidies can increase fecundity (the ability to produce an abundance of offspring or new growth; fertility) and can train cubs to seek bear baits. According to the research this can increase a population above its ecological carrying capacity.
Black bears are omnivorous and spend spring, summer & autumn foraging for Native Forage, including known bear foods; berries, acorns, grasses and sedges, other plants, and white-tailed deer.
Today, black bears in Wisconsin are being conditioned to search out human foods placed at bear baiting stations. This is influencing the black bear’s natural habitat. Researchers found that humans are influencing the ecosystem not only through top-down forces via hunting, but also through bottom-up forces by subsidizing the food base.
The Researchers found that if food subsidies (bait) were removed, bear-human conflicts may increase, and bears may no longer be able to subsist on natural foods.
High availability of energy-rich food can also alter denning chronology, shortening the denning period.
In 1963, Wisconsin allowed the use of dogs in the pursuit of black bears. It’s been an expensive mistake both in the lives of dogs & Wildlife. Hunters are compensated $2,500.00 for each dog killed by wolves during training & hunting with dogs in pursuit of black bear.
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Featured image by Bill Lea
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Jim Low
Thanks for this rachel, i’ll follow up on this and send it along.
Hope you’re doing well.
Things are a shit-show up here around herbster. We’re now the playground for the atv ( i call them “locusts”) and the insurrectionists.
I try and do as much of [my business outside of wisconsin as i can (so, duluth).
It’s a shit-show, but I do what i can to boycott…
Jim low, herbster, wi