A Bears 1000-Mile Journey Home After Being Relocated
Table of Contents
A female black bear was becoming a nuisance in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Park officials decided it was in the best interests of the safety of the park's guests to relocate the black bear. They didn't know this black bear didn't want to go anywhere except for her home in the Smoky Mountains.
Key Takeaways:
Remarkable Resilience: The story highlights the incredible determination and survival instincts of a bear that traveled over 1,000 miles to return home after being relocated.
Wildlife Management Challenges: The journey underscores the complexities and challenges of wildlife relocation and the strong homing instincts of animals.
Human-Wildlife Interaction: The tale raises important questions about human impact on wildlife habitats and the effectiveness of relocation as a strategy for managing bear populations.
Bears learn to condition to their environment
I saw a disturbing site when I checked in at the ranger station in the Adirondack Mountains before a 3-day trek. The ranger station had a tent on display destroyed by a black bear trying to get the food inside. Luckily no one was in the tent when the black bear discovered it. The rangers explained the bears become very conditioned to their environment. Bears slowly become conditioned to humans' presence. Bears go as far as learning how to use their claws to cut down a bear bag hung in a tree.
Nuisance bear behavior
Bears aren't typically dangerous to humans (especially black bears), but they can cause quite a nuisance. They are large creatures and demand a lot of food. They naturally adapt to their food sources in their immediate area. They learn how to forage for the food humans bring into their habitat. Examples of how bears adapt to their surroundings show us how intelligent bears can be. However, I had no idea they were as bright as this relocated female bear in The Great Smoky Mountains.
Typical nuisance activities of bears include grabbing food off picnic tables, startling visitors, raiding trash cans, and even stealing backpacks.
Black bear #609
After many reports of nuisance bear activity in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, wildlife officials decided it was time to relocate the suspected bear. Researchers fitted the bear with a GPS tracker and tagged her #609.
Park officials relocated her to South Cherokee National Forest in Polk County, Tennessee. The bear was placed in a research project to discover what a bear's activity was after being relocated. When they observed the bear's movements after relocating her to a wildlife area in Georgia, wildlife biologists were a bit taken aback.
A bears journey home
It wasn't uncommon for a bear to travel back to the area it called home. It typically only happened in cases where the new home was close to the bear's original home. The furthest a bear had ever traveled to return home in this research project was 200 miles. They decided to relocate the bear about 150 miles away in Tennessee.
Wildlife officials involved with the project were shocked when they started monitoring this black bear's movements. "This was definitely one of the most bizarre movements I've seen so far," Bill Stiver, one of the wildlife biologists involved, said to WBIR 10 News "She never slowed down. She just kept on going."
Relocating bears
Stiver also said the study revealed about 2/3 of the relocated bears are dead within about 4 months. "When a bear's behavior escalates to a certain level, there are not many options left," said Stiver.
This female black bear slowly traveled 1000 miles back to the campground she considered home. While the campground was only 150 miles away, the GPS tracker reported 1000 miles of travel before the bear found her home. A couple of pictures were taken of the bear during her journey, and there were reports of the bear getting hit by an automobile. She may not have traveled the most direct route, but she made it home in about 6 months.
Animal Instincts
This instinct some animals have to find their way home is amazing. Humans need Waze or Apple Maps to find their way to the store in the shopping complex the next town over. There's truly something special about the instinct to find your way home.
What happened to bear #609
You have to be wondering the same thing I was at this point. What happened to the bear? She returned home but didn't stay long. After finding her home campground, she decided to keep moving and ventured to Anderson, South Carolina.
Final Thought
Moving bears seems cruel, knowing they will probably die; however, bears that become very conditioned to human behavior become much more dangerous. A typical wild black bear would usually be scared off by human presence. When they become conditioned to human food sources, they are less concerned about people's presence and more concerned with the human food we leave vulnerable. Bears have potent senses, and we must try our hardest not to allow any wildlife to become reliant on human nutrition. Please be responsible for your presence in our National Parks and surrounding habitats for wildlife. Bears are amazing animals who will do everything possible to find their way home.
FAQ:
Why was the bear relocated?
The bear was relocated due to its close proximity to human habitats, which posed potential safety risks for both the bear and the local community.
How far did the bear travel to return home?
The bear traveled over 1,000 miles to return to its original home after being relocated.
Is it common for relocated bears to return home?
Yes, bears have strong homing instincts, and it is not uncommon for them to attempt to return to their original territory after relocation.
What does this story suggest about wildlife relocation efforts?
The story suggests that while relocation can temporarily address human-wildlife conflicts, it may not always be a permanent solution due to the animals' strong instincts to return home.
What are the implications of this bear's journey for future wildlife management?
The bear's journey highlights the need for more effective strategies in wildlife management that consider the natural behaviors and instincts of animals.