This morning, an adult black bear was "treed" by a police officer.

As I type this, the poor bruin is about 80 feet up a black willow tree surrounded by gawkers, police lines, camera crews and buzzing helicopters. Talk is of a "bear crew" from Huntsville way working with a local ladder truck to net it to the tree, tranq it and lower it down.

I was there for a couple of minutes but couldn't stand to see the poor thing gazing around between periods of trying to cover its eyes with its paws.

So far from home!





(second photo added by edit)

Barry Bridgeford
http://www.AlgonquinAdventures.com
http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

WOW Barry, thx. That's no cub but rather Bruno Sr.

Poor thing...Hope care is taken when they tranq it so it does not fall to hard...


Bears are on the move...Should be going more North, not South towards Windsor.
Boy, people would freak in Windsor if Bears made it this far!

Cheers
Mike

Mike B

I went back with a longer lens ..





Sedatives were administered and a reception was arranged on the ground .. strong 'tarp' manned by police, firefighters, SPCA and MNR'ers. Bruin got dopey and started coming down partway, before he lost his grip.



I wasn't able to shot the moment of "landing", but he got a rush of energy and gave a couple of the guys a run-around for a few seconds. More tranq's may have been given on the fly. Police ordering us away from the fence while they got him subdued.

The situation was contained by backyard fences on three sides. Here's Bruno starting to "sleep" ...



The MNR and SPCA guys did a bit of "monitoring and stabilizing" before they carried him in the "tarp" to the containment trailer.





Aside from the visual impression of a "media-circus", I must say I was impressed with the prevalent sympathy for the bear. Everyone seemed genuinely concerned for it.

Barry Bridgeford
http://www.AlgonquinAdventures.com
http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

Thanks Barry for the update...
Kool...

Any idea where the bear will be released?

Mike

Mike B

Thats nice to see they were able to trank him instaed of the usuall outcome...
Thanks for the pics, must have been cool to see...

Thanks for the news update Barry.

After reading your first post, I googled it and found the CTV and CP24 stories; both were very brief in comparison to your account. You might want to submit your photos to the news, as they are way better then the ones either news organization had.

I'm glad to hear that people were really concerned for the bear. I wonder where he (or sh?!?!) is "from"? How long he has been in the area? and Where she will be relocated to?

Jeff P
http://algonquincanoeing.blogspot.com/

"I wonder where he (or sh?!?!) is 'from'?"

Definitely a he. Look at the first photo in Barry's second post. Without being too graphic, the...evidence...is plainly visible. :D

A very healthy looking bear. Nice to see.. in pictures.

haha they were having fun with this story on CFRB this morning.

Wow, great photos, Barry!

My husband got to work this morning and someone asked if he had seen the bear at Yonge & Wellington. LOL

You should send those photos to the CBC website, too.


Barbara
(first registered post)

Point well taken.... A he he is. No pun intended.

Jeff P
http://algonquincanoeing.blogspot.com/

About 5 years ago a bear was treed and subdued in Dundas.

The MNR figured it followed a virtually unbroken series of farmers fields and forest sections from the Bruce Peninsula to Dundas.

I didn't think sections of land like that still existed in Southern Ontario.

Ahhh, very nice pics! Poor guy though, probably all stressed out! I hope they transported him somewhere safe. Maybe Algonquin Park, it can always use another bear!!!

My wife saw the bear just after 6 when he crossed Wellington heading south. She followed him south on the cross street he was loping down. He did look back a couple of times and was visibly upset. The bear went up a driveway and disappeared into the back yard. As she was about to phone the police an officer showed up looking rather nervous. I guess our police are not taught how to take down a bear

Just what we need more bears in Northern Ontario, which by the way, starts in North Bay, not Barrie. Big deal, one bear. Since the closure of the spring bear hunt, the residents of Northern Ontario have been inundated with bears. Our kids can't even go out and play in their own yards anymore, we can't go for walks anymore. Bears are breaking into our houses, garages, killing our dogs and livestock. Kids can't play in school yards anymore because of bears wandering in the school yard, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. The government has instituted a bear wise program that is costing the taxpayers of Ontario $10,000,000.00 a year because they caved into animal rights groups and ignored science. Maybe when Southern Ontario starts experiencing the problems and fears that we have had to endure the last 10 years with bears, common sense might prevail.

Agreed Rocky. You dont have to go to NB to find nuisance bears, Ottawa will do fine. They are little more than raccoons on steroids. When they show up in my rural neighborhood someone always takes care of them, then we breath easy again.

I know that's happening everywhere in Northern Ontario. People are gut shooting the bears so they wander into the bush to die and they don't have to report it. I don't agree with this method. I always tell people not to shoot the bears because that will not solve the problem. The best thing to do is everytime they have a bear problem is to contact the media in Southern Ontario. The MNR hate media coverage. The government and the animal rights activists have made a real mess of this issue. The activists for putting their noses into something that they don't understand and lowering the black bear from a big game animal down to a nuisance and the government for caving into them. They ran on an orphaned bear cub issue saying that they were orphaned during the spring bear hunt which is a lie because there were no cases of orphaned bear cubs but thanks to them, every year there are well over 100 orphaned bear cubs in rehabilitation centres because of nuisance bear problems and the MNR and police shooting the mothers leaving the cubs. Where there was never a problem, they have created one, not to mention all the other problems that come along with it.

Rocky,

As someone who spent the first half of my life in Northern Ontario (yes, way North of Barrie) I would ask that you not imply that the 95% of Ontario residents who do, in fact, live South of North Bay are somehow less intelligent. You obviously have a concern with how the bear hunt has been managed, or mismanaged, but I'm not sure that I (or the people on this forum, many of whom I believe live South of Barrie) had anything directly to do with that, though I appreciate your frustration. Thanks.

Fred

There are just as many Black Bears here in Petawawa and the area as there is in North Bay. Don't just think North Bay and North Rocky are the only ones hit by this. Any Dog that gets caught by a Bear is either RETARDED and Slow, or left on a chain which is neglect in my mind to begin with.

Col. HooT JVFS
www.jvfs.net

Clint, I only mentioned North Bay as point where we feel that Northern Ontario should truly start like it was a few years ago. I live much further north than North Bay and Petawawa might have bears like North Bay but they certainly don't have the number of bears that we have in my neck of the woods. I don't think that there are too many people who have had 7 bears in there yard in one day. They are almost like rabbits up here and the situation gets worse every year. Sudbury has already had well over 100 nuisance bear calls so far this year and it's only June.

To Fred, I didn't mean to imply that it was all of Southern Ontario but when all the decisions stem from the south, people up here do not distinguish. They just know that the clossure of the spring bear hunt came from Toronto and we are left with the consequences of that decision.

Rocky

The dissolution of the spring bear hunt was made by a government led by a North Bay native....

I hear you Rocky,

I Live in Kitchener my self however I know of many up your way that feel the same.
The issue is PETA, and PETA wanna be's

The issue of cancelling the spring hunt was a well funded and under educated agenda made quite popular by tapping into the populations of big city lobbyists who gained the support of there city friends who have zero experience with such issues.
It was adding insult to injury when a north bay native AKA Mike Harris passed the change under political pressure from these lobbyists.

Unfortunately the power of numbers in Southern Ontario can push an agenda on the rest of Ontario way...way to easily.
Most folks down this way have never seen a bear outside of the kids cartoons, and think of them as cute cuddly animals friendly by Nature....
Although they are certainly no menace by Nature, their overpopulation is infact a great menace to northern Communities at times
The political body of Southern Ontario and her activists pushed a change on Northern and rural communities when in reality they had no understanding of what they were doing.
Hopefully we'll see a change someday....

The reality is the Bears that come toc close are covertly and quite literally Shot and kicked into a hole, and then buried or burned now....in some cases by the dozen.
Its a reality in some areas where people feel threatened, like it or not its happening.

When the spring hunt was in place the populations were controlled and were "never" endangered.
The cancellation was based upon the idea that cubs by the masses were be orphaned, when in reality this was a rare occurrence, and Bear populations were quite healthy.
Its a sad state now...

Anyway,
People used to Hunt and eat Bear in the spring, but now they feel they have to kill them, and hide them in holes to protect their homes, livestock & familys....
There never was a problem, but now we have one.
lets hope someday someone changes that.

That was my post?
Not sure why it came up Nameless?

There may not be a bear spring hunt anymore, but many bears are shot here when they come onto private property.

Exactly...

Instead being Shot & consumed they are shot and buried, or burnt.
Its just a bit sad that instead of being hunted for sustenance, they are disposed of or wasted.

And it raises some questions,
Why are the bears coming into town, or breaking into homes, sheds, and taking livestock?
I'm not a biologist, but I'd guess its an overcrowding/food shortage issue.
Bears are not Pack animals, and they don't hang out together...
The bigger stronger, smarter animals stay in the deep woods with good forage, the weaker bears are forced to move along, and they become opportunistic....they find what they need in our back yards.
And then we have is the birth of what is often referred to as a nuisance Bear

You understand the issue very well Cookslav. As to how it way closed, it was Robert Schad who cornered Mike Harris at the Toronto Airport and threatened that if old Mikey didn't close the spring bear hunt, then he would put all kinds of money into the Golden Horseshoe area so that the PCs would lose the election. Mikey caved(I personally think it was for a different reason). The International Fund for Animal Welfare and other animal rights organizations were also at the forefront of this issue. I wonder how they feel now about what they have done to the bears but then again, we are talking about people who actually don't really care what happens to the animals. They just want to stop hunting by any means.
The reasons bears a coming into the communities now is that where outfitters used to put tons of food into the bush to feed the bears, that is not happening anymore. As stated, the larger bears are taking over the food source in the bush which is forcing the smaller bears but more so, the sows with cubs into the communities.
The MNR keeps blaming people for the nuisance bear problem because of our bird feeders, barbecues, garbage etc. Did we just invent this stuff in 1999? We had all of the above pre spring bear cancellation and we never had a bear problem.
The problem is only going to increase every year until with get someone in government who has the fortitude(not the word I would really like to use) to say: "I care more about what is right than what is popular." Right now, it seems that Randy Hillier who is running for the PC leadership is that man.

So the increase in bears and bear problems is all because of the cancelled spring hunt?

The fact that homes are being built and people expanding into what used to be forests, and summers of inadeqate food sources due to lack of rain or too much rain doesn't have anything to do with it??

PS, I don't support the hunting ban, just saying it might not be the only cause of nuisance bears.

Urban sprawl has a bit to do with it as well, no doubt
But the Sprawl has way less to do with it in Northern Ontario then is does in the say the GTA.

The issue is no body hunts them in the fall...there is a long, long list of reasons for this, but truth be told the majority of Bears harvested in the years when it was allowed was done in the spring. Now the number of bear being taken is a fraction of what it used to be.
With no natural preditors(except us....the population is and will continue to boom.
Average Bear has 2 to 3 cubs every 2 years or so, and begins reporoducing after 5 years of age, and will continue to do so until as late as 20 years of age...crazy eh?

Its not as though they are rabbits, but one female bear can produce as many as 30 offspring in her life, allthough the Average is more like 15.

They say Ontario had 100,000 bears before the cancelation, and now they say after 10 years we've seen a 7.5% estimated increase....A LOT of people including the OFAH believe this number to VERY conservative.
I'm no Biologist so I can only speculate, but I'd tend to agree with the OFAH...
100,000 bears in all of Ontario seems very low to me considering Algonquin is said to be home to some 2000 bears
For comparison sake that is 1 bear for every 3 square kilometers.
Ontario has a land measurement of 894,639 square kilomaters....
You do the math, because if you think there are more bears in Algonquin park then Northern Ontario I suggest you visit the west arm of Lake Nippising, Dryden, or Try Wawa.

Anyway,
to answer your questions yes, urban sprawl and Habitat destruction is an issue for sure but I'd say the cancelation of the hunt is a bit more impactful to the imediate population increase.

Somthing thing worth mentioning though....
The cancelation had NOTHING to do with conservation concerns, or poor population issues.
The Bear population was healthy, and doing quite well but Money talks...


http://www.ofah.org/Bear/index.cfm

I have lived in Northern Ontario all of my life and I can honestly say that the increase in nuisance bears has EVERYTHING to do with the cancellation of the spring bear hunt. There is not urban sprawl in Northern Ontario. In fact, our population has decreased by 8-10% over the last few years. Cookslav knows his stuff.

Urban sprawl doesn't necessarily have to do with population increase.

My point was homes, cottages, businesses being built where before used to be open spaces and forested areas. It not only displaces animals but also their food sources and in turn brings humans and their food sources closer to the animals.

I've probably never been to what you refer to as Northern Ontario, but places I've often frequented such as Hunstville, North Bay, Parry Sound, Sudbury etc. are very different from 10-20 years ago.

I don't think anyone can say with certainity and be correct that nuisance bears has everything to do with the cancellation. And I seriously doubt that the black bear in Aurora was there because one of it's ancestors wasn't killed in a hunt 5 years ago.

"The reasons bears a coming into the communities now is that where outfitters used to put tons of food into the bush to feed the bears, that is not happening anymore."
------------------

So do you mean the outfitters artifically inflated the bear population by creating an artificially abundant food supply (so they could attract them and have clients shoot them) only so they could attract American hunters who would shoot them from 20 yards? I'm sorry to rain on the parade but there hasn't been a whole lot of bear hunting for 'sustenance' in my lifetime or anyone else's on this board. Unless the sustenance is that of the outfitter baiting the bush, attracting US hunters and feeding the outifitters' family, which is fine by the way. I grew up in the North and I didn't see anyone wearing bearskins or grilling bear burgers. The 'nuisance' bears that found their way into town, long before the cancellation of the bear hunt, usually wandered in from the dump after developing a taste for human garbage.

The other part of the problem was that some unscupulous outfitters were leading hunters to bear for the gall bladder and penis which was being sold on the black market for a shocking amount of money. The carcasses left in the bush to rot, rather than providing a source of protein and sustenance. I have two friends who continue to provide guiding and outfitting in the North who have moved away from bear into other big game and are doing just as well.

There's a few more chapters to the story than Mike Harris getting button holed in an airport than that sure seems like a convenient oversimplification.

" and in turn brings humans and their food sources closer to the animals. "

Ya I'd agree to that to a point.
Huntsville, and that general "near north" area south of Northbay is still expanding, with cottages popping up. But I wouldn't nessasarily say thats a massive sprawl destroying a lot of habbitat, but I would certainly say thats putting people in the Bears back yard if you catch my drift?

"I don't think anyone can say with certainity and be correct that nuisance bears has everything to do with the cancellation. And I seriously doubt that the black bear in Aurora was there because one of it's ancestors wasn't killed in a hunt 5 years ago."

Actually I don't think the cancelation had anything to do with nuisance bears at all?
It was animal rights activists concerned with the abandonment of cubs that spurred the cancelation, despite the fact there was never any evidance to support their theory.
It always was completely Illegal to shoot a bear with cubs in toe, and it was Illegal to shoot a lactating Sow. As a hunter we were responsible to know 100% what we are shooting, a simple mistake could mean fines, and even jail time. So the ironic part of the cancelation is there was no Science or evidance to prove even one cub was abandoned, yet now there is hard evidence to prove potentially 1000's of cubs have been destroyed or abandoned because their mother was labled a nuisance bear by the MNR and had to be destoryed as well....very sad story IMO

But I would in fact say that the Aurora bear was more then likely a biproduct of both the cancelation and the sprawl...
Being this Bear was obviously in the southern end of there habitat in Ontario I'd say the Sprawl in the area's such as the Muskoka's has pushed quite few bears south, but the growing populations are also cramping their available area's to hang, so you get the smaller weaker bears...or in this case....not so smart bears comming into the populated area's rummaging trash, and becoming a nuisance bear.
Another Ironic part is this bear was re-located, I'd love to know if it was tagged?
Anyone know?
Just curious to see if t comes back...they tend to do re-visit, which is why in Northern Ontario they do not "relocate" the bears, and usualy have a more permanent soloution.

Hey Fred,

I can't speak to nuisance bears being a result of not being fed by outfitters, I would think that may be a local situation for Rocky?

Your right about the American Hunters, but I wouldn't pigeon hole Americans nessasarily.
Outfitters most certainly did and continue to bait bears for Clients, but thats tourism.
That is actually someones income, and way of life, no different then a fishing charter, or guide. Its just a different meal ticket I suppose so I'd see no issue with that providing its done with in the confinds of the law.
But to imply that bear hunting is not for food or sustinance I'd say you've been taken in by the tabloids, and PETA adds...
I've not once ever in my life known of or heard of any one who shot a bear for fun, and left it to rot.
And the harvesting of gall blatter and penis is just media sensationalism.
Thats what PETA would have you think we do, but its not a reality.
If it happened, it would be to less then .05% of bears harvested...
And in truth it would be a very illegal act.
It is 100% illegal to not harvest what you hunt...allowing the meat to spoil is a crime punishable in a court of law. Should someone be guilty of that...
I and any hunter would want the perp to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

That whole Gall blatter penis thing is PETA Propaganda.
If They had any sence they would let the science and hard facts do their talking.
the Truth is more bears are dyeing now then during the hunt...simple fact.
More Cubs are being destroyed each year...simple fact
More property owners are dealing with damage, and nuisance bear calls are way up...simple fact
The Spring hunt didn't hurt the population of bears, and there is no evidence to suggest Cubs were being abandoned...simple fact.

So regardless of the side of the fence we're on one simple...simple fact remains
Canceling the spring hunt only caused issues.
-it cut income from outfitters
-cause more Cub, and bear deaths a year for non food purposes
-cause more work for police/MNR on emergancy calls
-took hunting opportunitys away from law abiding citizens

The only pro is anti-hunting folk get to "think" they've done something good.

To clarify, I have hunted and fished most of my life. Most who grew up or live in the North do. It's a part of Northern life.I do not belong to PETA and have not been brainwashed. The 'statistics' you pull out of thin air undermine the reliability of your opinion.
In 2003, charges were laid against two outfitters and three dealers involving 368 bear gall bladders as well as other bear parts (paws). Presumably, each of these gall bladders came from bears. One must also presume those bears were killed illegally since many were poached from dumps in Northern Ontario and one person can't have 368 bear tags. All were Ontario bears. The parts were headed to the markets in Toronto where a number of communities value them for their alleged medicinal qualities.
I don't have an interest in the bear hunt, as an outfitter or a hunter. Bear is one of the species I have not hunted and have never been interested in. I have never been interested in sitting in a tree stand waiting for a bear to come to bait so I could shoot it. We can't leave salt blocks/corn in the bush to bring in deer but many do. I have seen lots of abuses in the bush, including bear carcases.

In the words of Forrest Gump-that all I have to say about that.

Sorry If the PETA reference was taken to offence
(although in truth I'm glad to hear you don't like them)

I didn't mean to insinuate you yourself were a supporter of PETA
I just meant that that story is, was and continues to be backed, shared, and promoted as PETA propaganda.

But in response to your..."slightly" insulting jab that My credibility may be in question...
These "386 charges" were laid against 5 people...by my calculations there are more then 10,000 hunters in Ontario...actually there are heck of a lot more then that.
So that makes the instance of Gall blatter trafficking what?....in percentages....less then 0.05% right?
Sorry for the sarcasm But I'm not pulling ridiculous stats out of my butt, I know the instance in which you spoke of and didn't appreciate the flaming response to my credibly either.
So how bout we keep it clean and a little less insulting shall we?

Now your reference to these "crimes" is this
http://www.ec.gc.ca/media_archive/press/2003/030502_n_e.htm

Right off the hop I should mention a few things..
#1- they broke the law...they should be punished.
#2- only 3 of these 5 people were in Ontario...we're not debating a Quebec cancellation.
#3- The number is actually 113 infractions against 3 people. A husband wife, and daughter
business out of Toronto.

The cancellation didn't stop this from happening...nor would it in any instance.
The incredibly despicable behaviour these "criminals" perpetrated has nothing to do with the sport, the cancellation, nor should it have any consequences on the law abiding citizens who hunt.
I fail to see the logic in how the incredibly rare and very illegal harvesting of Gall blatters can some how correlate into an exuse that somehow makes the Cancellation of the spring Bear hunt more exceptable when they are not connected in any way?

"We can't leave salt blocks/corn in the bush to bring in deer but many do. I have seen lots of abuses in the bush, including bear carcases."

Again I fail to see the corralation between Poachers, and the Spring hunt cancelation?
I think we're spinning a bit, but I suppose its all in good fun.

The thread was about a Bear in Aurora, and then it spun into why...the insinuation of overpopulation, a potential cause(hunt cancelation), dabbled with Habbitat loss, and here we are now debating if the cancelation was justified via poaching even though it had nothing to do with cause of cancelation in the first place?
Yikes how'd we get here LOL!

I'm just sayin'. LOL

Fair enough

That was me...forgot to log in?

This thread is a perfect example of why we now need moderators. It go out of hand a long time ago! The two individuals that were hell bent on slamming each other, had each other's email address. In the future guys, why not got at it one on one and spare us all your animosity?

Regards,

Michael

Michael,

I take your point. I thought it was a reasonably civilized discussion.

Fred

I was quite interested in the conversation. I thought everyone was reasonable. I learned some stuff also.

Gordie

http://www.solotripping.com/

http://www.abrweb.ca/

I had written a great response to Fred a couple of days ago but it got lost somehow and I haven't been able to duplicate it. Cookslave, I feel for you and your frustration. I have had 10 years of it. I have tons of numbers from the MNR itself of why this was a terrible decision based solely on lies from the explosion of orphaned bear cubs, the hundreds of bears each year killed and dumped by the MNR & the OPP(not to mention the thousands killed and not reported by cottage owners, farmers etc.), the implementation of the $10,000,000.00 a year bear wise program(we didn't have one for the decades before the spring bear hunt was cancelled), the marked increase of the harvest of breading females in the fall hunt(like a farmer shooting his cows)etc. The MNRs job is to manage wildlife and they are failing miserably.

The government closed the spring bear hunt because of the POSSIBILITY of orphaning bear cubs. They had to put the word POSSIBILITY in there because even though it had been illegal to orphan bear cubs for years, they had no charges. It's funny that we don't hear about orphaned cubs now even though there are now hundreds because of nuisance bears.

To Fred, a study was done that proved that baiting bears keeps them in the bush. One of the reasons that we had a spring bear hunt was because way back in time, the MNR couldn't handle the nuisance bear problem so they encouraged outfitters to start running spring bear hunts to alleviate the problem and now here we are some 50 years later, right back where we started.

One of my frustrations is that people have formed an opinion on this issue based on assumptions,lies, half truths, innuendos etc.

I can't believe that after 10 years, people still don't get it.

To the concerns over moderation, I've been watching this thread. While I had anticipating there could be some 'heated' responses, I must say I was impressed with everyone's reserve.

It appears to me that all sides have been aired. Considering that, plus the fact it was my original posting that started the thread, I've decided to 'cap-it' with a lock.

This isn't intended to be critical of anyone or to take a position in the debate. Let's just return our attentions to Algonquin. Thanks.

Barry Bridgeford
http://www.AlgonquinAdventures.com
http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry