MassWildlife offers rare look inside bear den to inspect health of mother and cub
FRANKLIN COUNTY - A warning from MassWildlife agents - don't put out bird feeders or you may be attracting bears to your property. The same can be said for chicken coops that lack an electric fence.
"Bird feeders, unfortunately, are the number one food that bears are attracted to in people's backyards. There are thousands of calories in a tube of birdseed," explained Dave Wattles, the black bear and furbearer biologist with MassWildlife, "That essentially trains the bears, other than to look for food in the forest, to come up onto decks into neighborhoods."
The organization tracks 35 bears throughout eastern and central Massachusetts. Females who survive off food in the wild tend to be between 130 and 160 pounds. The ones who live near humans can be 200 to 250 pounds.
WBZ-TV took a trip out to a bear den with MassWildlife. They were checking on a sow and her cub in central Massachusetts. They track her with a radio collar that sends out a pulsing beacon. The bear weighed more than 130 pounds. Wattles believed she may have only had one cub because she didn't have the fat storage to support more offspring. This animal dines on food in the wild.
"One of the big, important, natural foods are berries in the summer, and with the drought last year, some of the berry crops weren't plentiful," Wattles said.
Her cub is only a few weeks old and will spend the first year of her life with her mother. If the mom senses danger, she will send her cubs up a tree.
"Generally speaking, around mid-January to early February is when the cubs are born. They are only around 8 ounces. They are blind, with very little fur at that point, but they are growing rapidly," Wattles said.
MassWildlife was diligently checking the mother's skin. She showed the potential for mange. Wattles said there has never been a documented case of bear mange in Massachusetts.
"The mange is caused by an infestation of mites. We are trying to get under this crusty skin where the mites would be found," explained Wattles. "The mites tunnelling under the skin."
If you spot a bear, give them their space and leave them alone. The animals currently face very few predators. The only means of population control in the state comes from human hunting.
For more information on black bears in Massachusetts, click here.