This story comes from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department of a story about a mother black bear and her three cubs.
Wildlife Biologist and Bear Project Leader Andy Timmins in Fish and
Game’s Region 1 Office in Lancaster reports that on June 27, he had to
remove a sow black bear and her three 6-month-old cubs that were raiding
dumpsters several times a day in a condominium complex in Jackson. The
bears were transferred to the northern part of Pittsburg, N.H. — some
80 miles away, straight line distance. Fourteen days later, the whole
crew was back in Jackson, a remarkable journey for a mother and young
cubs to make in such a short time!This migration back to her home range illustrates the fidelity of some
bears to specific feeding sites. Despite this long journey, all three
cubs returned back at the site larger then when they left. Two cubs
gained approximately 10 pounds each while the third cub gained
approximately 5 pounds. The moral of the story — get those bear attractants like
garbage, pet food and birdseed out of your yards! Fish and Game can try
to remove bears, but once they become habituated to human food sources,
it can be a hard habit to break. – Andy Timmins, Fish and Game Bear Project Leader
Tom Remington
