Have you checked out the Nextdoor app lately? Local residents and visitors are interested, curious, sometimes even panicked over coyote sightings, or a bobcat scream, or God help us—bears! As in Ursus americanus, the American Black Bear, known—and prone—to follow the “overflow” of waterways of our region in search of H2O to drink and cool down in, food, and shelter. A single bear’s range may can earmark your neighborhood a possible stopping point on its multi-city territorial commute. “I’ve lived here since 1996,” explained Debbie Setzer of Blackwater, whose family owns a local electrical contracting business, “and saw my first bear this summer!” Setzer was driving on Pungo Ferry Road approaching the Pungo Ferry Bridge with fellow staffer Shannon Stewart when she and Stewart spotted a young bear, crossing the road. Setzer describes the bear as, “Making its way across the road at a steady pace. Not in a hurry at all.” Setzer waited for the bear to cross the road before resuming her drive.
This Land is My Land—But it’s the Bears’ Land, Too!
So, why did the Black Bear that prompted Debbie Setzer to stop her vehicle on Pungo Ferry Road, cross that road? He or she could have been cruising their large territory in search of food or water, or staking out a new den. FYI that territory can be 50 to 300 miles. And, the food? Well, relax a bit. Black Bears are omnivores, consuming a diet of 85-90 percent vegetation. That’s acorns (especially in fall), berries, nuts, seeds, with some insects, eggs, snakes, fish, and a mammal here and there. During the spring and summer season, Black Bears will consume an average 5,000 calories per day. Sounds about right, you’re thinking—twice the amount needed by an average human male. However, during the autumn, this caloric intake increases to a whopping 10,000 to 20,000 calories per day as bears prepare for intermittent hibernation and periods of scant food sources.
Straight Talk About These Black Beauties
If Black Bears appear large and intimidating, that’s because, well, they are! At up to 900 pounds (think 4-5 average sized humans), Black Bears have few predators. In Virginia, these bears are the Apex, or top predator, among animals in the wild. Those to which they may fall victim to can be formidable: humans, via hunting natural disasters and weather changes which create dangerous conditions and deplete food or water in their territories pesky and deadly parasites occasional predation by Mountain Lions and, yes, other adult bears, which may kill and eat Black Bear cubs. While Black Bears are silent much of the time, they are known to grunt, roar, grumble, huff and purr. “Black bears are an important predator in our ecosystems and if we are thoughtful about how “we interact with them we can live successfully together,” explains Lauren Billodeaux Mowbray, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
Same Time, Last –or Next—Year?
Is the bear you see today the bear you saw last year? Most likely, yes. Black Bears live an average of 20 years, and as long as 30 years. During these decades of life, Black Bears perform important ecological functions. Their physical movements through the land break open forest canopies, creating opportunities for plant growth and diversification. Their omnivorous diet results in seed distribution across vast areas. While digging for grubs, bears open and break down logs and stumps, facilitating the release of organic nutrients back into the environment.
Help! There’s a Bear in My Burger Grill!
While your chances of regular bear sightings are slim, there’s a fat chance that repeated visits by bears near your homestead are in response to exposed garbage, bird feeders, composting, pet feed dishes, or that apple orchard or berry patch you’ve been nurturing. Yes, it’s your land and you could argue that you can do whatever you want on it, or with it, but bear in mind that human development reduces and destroys Black Bear territory, not the other way around. “As homes and developments are reducing forested stands where Black Bears reside, the potential for human-bear interactions will continue to increase,” Mowbray says. “It is our responsibility to not enforce behavior that will then result in a bear fatality.”
Hey, What About Smokey?
A bit of Black Bear trivia. Did you know that the bear in the anti-forest fire campaign created in 1944 by the U.S. Forest service is named Smokey Bear, not Smokey the Bear? Smokey is a Black Bear, even though he is brown in the campaign illustrations. Black Bears come in various shades of black, gray, brown and, rarely, white. Check this out! For more information on Black Bears here in Back Bay, contact Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge at: 757. 301.7329. Want to make certain that you’re managing your property in a Black Bear “neutral way?
Check out the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources article on ways to minimize conflict with Black Bears: https://dwr.virginia.gov/wildlife/bear/living-with-black-bears/
