Cub scout: Fisheries and Wildlife officials take Gov. Patrick on mission to meet Whately bear, make a happy discovery

[ Originally published on: Saturday, February 28, 2009 ]

WHATELY -- 'This is why I love this job,' Gov. Deval Patrick proclaimed, cuddling one of three new bear cubs inside his jacket.

On Friday morning, Patrick and about two dozen others trekked a foggy, snowy slope in the Whately woods and watched as state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife officials plunged their gloved hands between the gnarled roots of an old pine, scooping up the docile cubs -- two females, 5 pounds each, and one male, 5.5 pounds.

Their 220-pound mother lay several feet away, conscious but immobile while under the influence of a tranquilizer dart. The cubs were born the last week of January, according to state wildlife officials.

Once in a while, a cub gave a brief squeal, but for the most part, seemed content to snuggle inside the warm jackets of the many who held him or her.

Patrick said this was the first time he'd ever held a bear cub, and it was only his second encounter with black bears in the state -- he'd seen one near his Berkshire County home recently while on a walk with his wife.

Nearby stood bear expert James E. Cardoza, a wildlife biologist who has worked with the state for 40 years and was one of the first biologists to work on the state's bear studies.

According to Cardoza, state research on 'cub production and survival' began in 1970 and fieldwork began in 1980. He said the purpose of this field work has been to put radio collars on female bears and track cub production and the survival of female cubs. He said the state currently has 15 radio-collared females.

There were about 100 black bears in Massachusetts when MassWildlife began its study of bears in 1970, in cooperation with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Today the bear population has grown to about 3,000. Based on last year's breeding data, there are 10 bears likely to have newborn cubs, according to state officials.

When asked if the sedated mother bear had a name, Cardoza said she is referred to by her collar number -- 216.

He said the male bears will travel as far as 60 miles away from their birthplace after their mother has shooed them away from the den. But the females generally stay close to where they were born, he said.

Cardoza said the mama bear in Whately, No. 216, is about 9 years old. 'She would have been collared when she was a cub, with her mother,' he said.

Besides tracking the black bear population growth, Cardoza said the state has started a pilot project in Northampton, to study how bears are interacting in human environments. He said black bears are increasing in number and 'are learning to adapt' to human environments. He said wildlife workers are seeing 'a movement from rural areas into the suburbs' -- a move that may be 'food-driven,' he said, as bears take to bird-feeders and Dumpsters.

In the Northampton pilot study, three female bears are now wearing GPS collars that will enable wildlife officials to track their movements and study their interactions with humans. Cardoza said the bears living closer to human environments in eastern Massachusetts are heavier then their counterparts in less developed areas in western Massachusetts.

After the governor's visit, the mother bear was carried on a tarp back into her den; the cubs were tucked in beside her, and hemlock and pine boughs were gently laid over the den opening, for added warmth and darkness while the bear came out of sedation.

Once out of the woods, Patrick's navy jacket was covered with dusty cub prints. 'I was told to wear something I wouldn't mind losing, and I wondered what that meant,' Patrick said later.

 

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