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Wolves and the Attack Bear - UPDATE December 21, 2017

Upon examination, the attack bear turned out to be a male about 150 pounds.Hairy woodpeckerHairy woodpecker

According to Captain Tom Provost, head of DNR enforcement for northern Minnesota, “MNDNR staff performed an exhaustive back-track of the bear to the point that the trail was obliterated by wolf tracks.”

The wolf tracks back up what I suspected once I heard there were many wolf tracks daily in the area. It’s too late in the year for the area to be a wolf rendezvous location (an area where wolves leave their pups and bring food back to them). By now, most wolf pups are traveling with their packs. I believe the wolf tracks were from wolves swarming around the adolescent male after rousting him from his den.

That brings to mind a similar incident that happened on February 17 or 18, 1977 only 6 miles from the attack of a couple days ago. The attack of 1977 is described in this old publication (Rogers, L. L., and L. D. Mech. 1981. Interactions of wolves and black bears in northeastern Minnesota. Journal of Mammalogy 62(2):434-436). Click on the highlighted title to see the entire paper. In that paper, the old incident is the one in which a radio-collared 16-year-old female with cubs was attacked by a pack of 9 wolves. The wolves rousted the mother and fought with her. At the base of the nearest big aspen tree, there was wolf fur, bear fur, part of a wolf tooth, and a pool of blood where the mother would have stood with her back to the tree unable to turn her back and climb. The wolves eventually killed and ate her and the cubs.

Hoary redpollHoary redpollIn the recent incident, I believe the wolves swarmed around the adolescent male and put him in a very defensive keyed-up mindset—especially with regard to canines. So when he wandered through a yard where an aggressive, territorial dog challenged him, he hit back. When the dog’s owner then jumped on the bear’s back to save his dog, the bear bit him in the stomach, making the bear defensive toward people as well..The bear continued down the lakeshore in a defensive mindset, escaping from wolves, an aggressive dog, and a man who jumped on him when he was occupied defending against the man’s dog. Then he saw a man in front of him. In a defensive mindset, he went for the man and tore his shirt. Then another man appeared on the scene swinging a 4-foot metal level at the bear, missing the bear but distracting the bear enough to have the bear turn on him, get him down and badly bite his arm. Then the first man hit the bear hard between the eyes with the edge of a shovel. The man on the bottom said he saw the bear’s eyes go up into its skull. The bear left.

There is more to learn if the DNR would return to where the wolf tracks obliterated the bear tracks and find the den, which is probably nearby. Or I would do it if the DNR would show me where the spot is before snow covers the tracks. I would look for signs of a scuffle (fur, blood, broken branches) at the den and document with pictures what happened. I suspect the tracks will tell a tale as I found some 40 years ago at the other scene.

Hoary redpollHoary redpollIt is important to learn the present story for two reasons—to better understand the mind of the black bear and to understand the extreme circumstances of this incident so people don’t need to blindly fear black bears. If black bears were the ferocious animals they are often portrayed to be, I wouldn’t have been able to gain their trust, walk with mothers and cubs around the clock, and push the envelope with them for over 50 years without ever having a bear come after me and hurt me. If bears were like they are often portrayed, Eagles Nest Community residents wouldn’t be able to hand-feed bears as they have been doing since 1961. Those residents, hikers and people in general would not be able to enjoy the wilderness without bears hurting them.

Today was a day of answering media questions about bear behavior. I’m thankful for opportunities to educate. Tomorrow will be more of the same.

Out the window, a hoary redpoll made it down here to the southern edge of its winter range. Hoary redpolls look like common redpolls except that they are lighter in color, have only faint streaks on the breast, and have a rump patch that is unstreaked. A hairy woodpecker gave a tree’s eye view of his face.

Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center


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