 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 Nuisance Bears
COLIN CARPENTER/DNR BEAR BIOLOGIST SAYS: "What we have here is a large male nuisance bear. We just happened to meet here at the Dairy Queen and he came out to the food source at the dumpster. There are two dumpsters here at the DQ, one of the dumpsters is secure, the other has plastic lids and they're getting trash out of the dumpster." Colin says this area has been a big problem for nuisance bears for around 20 years. You can see all the trash, and if you look across the creek, you'll see another bear digging around. Two bears within twenty yards at the same time. This is the first time this has been caught on tape PATRICK MCMURTRY/EYEWITNESS NEWS SAYS: "This is probably a 230 pound male. This is something any hunter would like to find out in the woods, but unfortunately, today we found him by a dumpster. When you have a situation like this, an innocent animal feeding at a dumpster, it really doesn't leave the DNR biologists very many options." COLIN CARPENTER/DNR BEAR BIOLOGIST SAYS: "The options are relocate the animal, we can scare the animal with rubber bullets or shell crackers but that doesn't really work that well if the food source is still there. If that doesn't work, euthanasia. We're at a point now in WV where there are black bears everywhere and a lot of the time you move an animal and it returns, and two, you're putting an animal where it hasn't lived before and animals have an established home range." Colin says his office handles more than 600 nuisance bear calls a year. He says many times people just don't think about what they're doing, and their habits are putting these magnificent animals at risk. COLIN CARPENTER/DNR BEAR BIOLOGIST SAYS: "People need to understand we live in bear country. It doesn't matter if you live in downtown Charleston or downtown Beckely, we trap bears in downtown Beckely every year. Bird feeders, trash cans, people need to put away their bird feeders in the spring until the fall. The other thing they can do is put your trash out the morning of pick up." By putting forth a little bit of effort, you just might be keeping the state's largest animals out of harms way.
|
|
|
|
GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA'S WILDLIFE
     |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  
How To Contact WCHS-TV8 | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | DMCA Policy | Frequently Asked Questions
Home | Eyewitness News Newsroom | Storm Team Weather | Eyewitness Sports | Schedules | Programs 
Send email to news@wchstv.com for information or comments concerning WCHS-TV Eyewitness News.Copyright ©2012, WCHS-TV8. Portions are Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed. |