Bear Sighting

A black bear was spotted strolling New Marshfield yesterday.  I can't link to the Athens Mess article, but it was seen in town by residents, ACSO deputies and photographed.  Eventually it was terrorized into retreating into the woods, unharmed, by a terrier.

I'd guess the Waterloo Wildlife Area, the old Wild Turkey management area, the Zaleski State Forest and Lake Hope State Park are within it's wanderings, which would enable it get from the Ohio River to close to Columbus or anywhere in Southeastern to SW Ohio.

I've lost count of the reliable sightings, but this is cool.  It's at least the third or 4th within a couple miles of campus, and doesn't include the dwarf Sasquatch spotted at the Brick Kilns in the 80's.

One note: the article painted the bear as "docile."   Articles about the Soda Butte grizzly attacks also referred to black bears as being somehow less dangerous.  I'm not going to try to pet one of each breed to find out, but I think research is starting to indicate that black bears will actually attempt to stalk and prey on humans, whereas Grizzly and Brown bear attacks are typically in response to their perception of a human as a threat to cubs or food.  Couple that with the growing abundance of black bears nationwide, and the speed in which they habituate to populated areas as food sources, I would certainly treat them with respect.  A friend of the Program employed as a LEO for another state's Dept. of Natural Resources had to shoot and kill a charging black bear in a public campground, which was a pretty cool piece of pistolcraft.  He works in one of the most populous, urbanized states on the east coast.

The Soda Butte attacks sound anomalous, and more than a little reminiscent of the mid-1960's attacks at Glacier NP.  See my animal-human interactions reading list for Olsen's book on those incidents.