July 31--The Chicago Bears are where they're supposed to be -- in preseason training camp. The northwest Indiana bear is being a little less cooperative.
Since June, a black bear tracked from Michigan and thought to be a male weighing about 200 pounds has been roaming Indiana, primarily around Michigan City, turning over garbage cans, raiding beehives and enjoying seeds from bird feeders, among other slightly unsettling activity. His presence is big news in Indiana, which recorded its last bear siting in 1871 and hasn't had a resident bear since 1850, according to historical records.
"He's become kind of habituated to humans," Indiana Department of Natural Resources spokesman Phil Bloom said, "and once bears lose their fear of humans, they can become problematic."
Among the dozen or so sightings, the bear twice visited Panos Farms, which produces honey and herbs, said Pete Livas, who helps run the Michigan City business owned by his wife, Nancy. Pete Livas said the bear licked clean a peanut butter jar and bit through a can containing marshmallow spread while tearing through garbage.
The animal also has ripped through hives and apparently likes to lounge on a pile of wood chips on farm property, Livas said.
Regardless of his proximity to the bear, Livas said he remains calm and carries on. Bears typically are fearful of humans, Livas said.
"We have to adjust to this environment," he said. "We have adjusted to other things. We might as well adjust to the bears."
The Department of Natural Resources and conservation officials are taking a different approach. Bloom said the agency has set up two barrel traps and a baiting area, part of a plan to capture the bear and return him to his home state.
DNR representatives thought they'd persuaded the bear to do that by late July, Bloom said. But, on Monday morning, they received a report that the bear had returned. His favorite area is a wooded section where U.S Highway 20 and Indiana Route 212 merge near Interstate 94, Bloom said.
"One way or another," he added, "our goal is to capture him and return him to Michigan, for the sake of the bear and for the residents of the area."
Illinois experienced a similar visit in May last year, when a male black bear was reported near Galena and roamed east near Rockford, DeKalb and Rochelle before turning back northwest and fading into the landscape in early fall, said Doug Dufford, wildlife diseases and invasive species program manager with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
"Either he returned to Wisconsin or the corn got tall enough or the whole issue became blase," Dufford said.
As was the case in Indiana, settlement and an absence of protective laws pushed bears from Illinois in the 1800s, Dufford said. Elk, cougars and beavers endured similar fates, he added. The trend started shifting in the mid-20th century, when bear populations began growing in states where the animals resided, including Michigan and Wisconsin, Dufford said.
A roaming young male bear is relatively common this time of year, he said, when a mother bear is preparing for another litter and casts out her male offspring from an earlier litter. Dufford is reasonably sure a few bears already are residing -- or at least roaming -- in rural areas of Illinois bordering Missouri and Wisconsin.
"It seems like more of a question of when, not if, bears and people are living together in areas with a minimal amount of problems," Dufford said. "Our citizens and agencies are going to go through a period of adaptation to each other."
Until then, Dufford encourages people who see a bear to contact the Illinois DNR -- photos are appreciated -- and visit a University of Illinois Extension website, Living with Wildlife in Illinois: web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory.cfm.
tgregory@tribpub.com
