Wildlife group offers advice on handling black bear conflicts

April 25, 2021 | By Waterbury Roundabout 

Black bear and cubs. Photo courtesy Protect Our Wildlife Vermont

Bears should be out from their winter dens and the wildlife conservation group, Protect Our Wildlife has released a new bear report aimed to help the public avoid run-ins with bears and ultimately, to preserve bears as a wild species in Vermont. 

Titled, “Vermont Black Bears and How to Effectively Manage Conflict,” the report explores possible reasons why there was such a dramatic increase in bear complaints reported to VT Fish & Wildlife in 2020 to simple things people can do to prevent bear conflicts from happening in the first place.

The report is the product of a five-month-long project launched by an Environmental Sciences student at the University of Vermont overseen by Protect Our Wildlife along with other experts including individuals with doctoral-level studies in microbiology and molecular genetics, an ecologist, and others. 

“I really hope that this report helps Vermonters learn how to be better bear neighbors,” said Will Spitter, the UVM student who began the bear project in the fall of 2020.

Jennifer Lovett, a Protect Our Wildlife board member, points out that a record 921 bears were killed in Vermont last year, about half of them females. “Vermont cannot hunt its way out of black bear conflicts,” she said. “We have an obligation to learn how to coexist. … Bears form tight family units with the cubs staying with their mother for about a year and a half. When we implement lethal control, this disrupts the bear’s natural lifecycle, potentially leaving a cub to grow up without a mother.” 

Protect Our Wildlife Vermont is a volunteer, nonprofit wildlife advocacy organization including members who are biologists, wildlife rehabilitators, educators, and other professionals who seek to safeguard wildlife.