Bears make way to Marksville, Belledeau

Last week two young male bears caused quite a stir in separate communities of this parish when they ended up in neighborhoods. It was the “Week of the Bear,” with a bruin being treed by a Labrador in Belledeau on Thursday and another one making himself at home on Preston Street in Marksville throughout the week.

 

News of the bears even made national news, including the Associated Press and Yahoo.

 

Bear sightings in the parish have increased in recent years. At first, most sightings were in rural areas. With a growing population of black bears in the parish, sightings have been reported near or in human neighborhoods. A mama bear and her cubs recently forced the lockdown of Cottonport Elementary and the Avoyelles Vocational School. Sightings will become more common, state wildlife officials caution, which may give residents a scare and will certainly keep Wildlife & Fisheries agents on their toes.

 

Maria Davidson, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries large carnivore program manager, monitored both situations by long distance and received regular updates from LDWF agents at the scenes.

 

“Bears are in the area and will continue to be in the area,” she said. “We are getting more calls about this kind of activity. At this time of year, young male bears are leaving their mothers and are going off on their own. In places like Avoyelles, they may be following a tree line in a field and suddenly find themselves in a neighborhood.

 

“They certainly do not want to be there,” she added.

 

These young males are having feelings they haven’t had before -- and the older males in their area make it clear that they should have those feelings elsewhere, resulting in an exodus of young adults looking for a place to call their own.

 

Davidson said every human-bear contact event is different, and there is no cookie-cutter response to address it. In most cases, the best approach is to “clear out all the dogs and the people and give the animal an opportunity to get out of the situation on his own.”

 

Residents are cautioned not to react to the potential threat of a large animal in the backyard with violence and gunplay. The Louisiana black bear is protected as an endangered species. State, federal and private wildlife organizations have been successful in bringing the bear back from the brink of extinction. Shooting a black bear can bring a hefty fine and other penalties.

 

Avoyelles is considered an important crossroads for bear populations, linking those in northeast Louisiana with those in the southern Atchafalaya Basin. It has also been categorized as a “growth area” for bears.

 

When Matthew and Misty Ard’s black Labrador, Starla, had her nose pointing straight up the tree and barking to beat the band, Ms. Ard figured the dog was excited about a snake or a stinging caterpillar -- two things that usually get that kind of response.

Looking up the tree, she was shocked to see a young adult black bear climbing the tree.

 

She called the Sheriff’s Office, who dispatched three deputies and called the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries.

 

News soon spread among her neighbors in Belledeau, and the rare beast soon had an audience of admirers. The deputies and  LDWF biologist Kenneth Moreau arrived armed with a box of donuts. Bears have a sweet tooth, it seems.

 

Several hours later, Moreau was still waiting for the bear -- named “Roscoe” by the neighborhood -- to come down of his own accord.

 

Ms. Ard said the bear was “huffing and puffing. He sounded agitated.”

 

Davidson said bears are very good at communicating their feelings verbally, but “humans aren’t as good at reading those signals as they are a dog’s.” She said “huffing and puffing” is the bear’s way of saying, “I’m scared. There’s too many people around and they are too close to me. I wish I wasn’t here.” She said the sound “is not aggressive.” 

 

There were many comments from neighbors about the bear.

 

Kaylie Laborde, 13, proposed a new riddle: “How do you get a bear out of a tree? With three cops and a box of donuts.”

 

Rita Johnson noted that in her 60 years living in that area, “we never had this much excitement in Belledeau.”

 

Rowena Johnson summed up the day by saying, “If you want to bring your neighborhood together, put a bear in your tree.”

 

Ms. Ard said Roscoe climbed down around 7 p.m. Thursday and disappeared into a wooded area.

 

“I just hope his mama doesn’t come looking for him,” she said with a laugh.

 

Another young male bear found himself on Preston Street  on Mother’s Day, up a tree in the backyard of Bridgett Ford’s home. He ended up staying the whole week as the newest neighbor on Preston Street.

 

“I called Wildlife & Fisheries,” she said. “They said to leave it alone and that it would probably be gone in the morning. Monday, he was gone. The agent came to the house to check.”

 

Ms. Ford said she was alerted to the bear’s presence by her dog.

 

“We were outside all day Monday, making a lot of noise and doing yard work,” she said. There was no sign of the bear at that time.

 

However, a few houses down the street, the Preston Street bear had found a new home on Wednesday -- a tree in Nikki Carmouche’s yard. Ms. Carmouche said he stayed up in a tree all day Wednesday. 

 

The LDWF agent came to the house and set a relocation trap, baited with snack cakes. 

 

“The bear was almost ready to go into the cage, but someone honked a horn and a dog barked and he ran up a tree further back in the yard,” she said.

 

Later in the day, “Preston” had become bolder as he got accustomed to the noise and smells of humanity. He climbed down and stayed on the ground for about two hours, but didn’t come near the trap. He then went back up the tree.

 

Ms. Carmouche said the bear was still there Monday. The wildlife agent repositioned the trap closer to the bear’s new perch.

She said the bear drew a crowd the first day, but things had quieted down considerably by Friday and Monday. She was hoping Preston’s craving for sweets would get the better of him and lure him into the trap so he could be taken to a place where he would be happier and do what bears do.