NJ OWL Meeting - A Dog's Life in Bear Country

NJ Outdoor Women's League Meeting
A Dog's Life in Bear Country
January 2005

Kelcey Burguess, Black Bear Project Leader for the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife, came to our first meeting of 2005. With him was Cyngen, a Blackmouth yellow cur dog, to help update us on the latest exciting development in the management of black bears in our state. As you are probably aware, maintaining a peaceful coexistence between these respect-worthy animals and residents has become an increasingly challenging proposition for the Division in certain areas of New Jersey.

As Kelcey stated, New Jersey’s habitat has been good to black bears. According to the Division’s research, female bears in New Jersey (called sows) have an average of three cubs per litter, with a 70% survival rate.

Kelcy Burguess, right, with Ross Shramko
and the NJ Bear Dogs on the job.

They have adapted to their shrinking territory to a remarkable degree. Sows have an average home range of about 2 square miles, the smallest home range on record for bears living on the eastern seaboard. New Jersey’s bear population has been increasing about 21% a year, while New Jersey’s human population has a 22% growth rate. As a result, bears have become habituated to the presence of people, and in some cases have come to associate them with food, either because of intentional feeding or inadvertently allowing bears to have access to bird feeders or garbage. This is compounded by the fact that humans are no longer a source of fear for bears. Property damage, destruction of crops and killing of livestock and pets has resulted, and incidents of bears scratching or chasing people have escalated.

The Division has used a variety of tools to help address these conflicts.

One of the tools has been to educate people on how to minimize having conflicts with black bears. It is hard to frequent a park in North Jersey without seeing a poster or pamphlet on bear awareness. In addition, public service announcements, school programs and public lectures to various interest groups have also been used to make the public more bear aware.

Kelcey holds two of New Jersey's Blackmouth Yellow Curs while they bark at a bear in a culvert trap.

Education has been coupled with the "aversive conditioning" of problem bears that are a nuisance to people either in parks, campgrounds and occasionally their backyards. Aversive conditioning involves educating bears to associate discomfort with being around people by severely hazing them with noise (cracker shells) and physical irritants (rubber buckshot). Surprisingly, this sort of hazing hasn’t always been enough for bears to be "scared straight." Sometimes when they are hit with rubber buckshot they just move a short distance, and then go back to doing what was causing a problem again.

Then in March of 2003, New Jersey hosted the Eastern Black Bear Workshop. The workshop brought together biologists and other professionals from across the country to share the latest in black bear research and management.

One of the sessions discussed how wildlife management officials in Louisiana have not only been successful in educating the public about bears, but also in preventing bears from returning to the scenes of their crimes when they cause problems around people. Their secret: aversive conditioning using Blackmouth Yellow Curs.

The Yellow Cur (you probably remember Ol' Yeller) has been bred to hunt bear and boars. Their extremely protective and fearless natures are matched only by their drive. Just like in New Jersey when problem bears in Louisiana were subjected to cracker shells and buckshot, they merely went back to doing that was causing a conflict with people. But when biologists fortified cracker shells and buckshot with an explosive dose of Blackmouth Yellow Curs, results were much different. The bears no longer had any desire to be around people. The "fear factor," when combined with educating the public about proper storage of garbage and birdseed, has greatly reduced bear conflicts with people.

Based on what happened in Louisiana, New Jersey decided to try the same strategy. With help from Louisiana officials, the Division purchased three Texas-bred Blackmouth Yellow Cur puppies. Another was purchased a few months later by a Bear Project team member. Both the Curs and their handlers (Black Bear Project members) received training. The Curs were exposed to bears under a variety of conditions, each experience designed to build their confidence around these animals.

They and their handlers also received obedience training as a team since that is how they would work on bears. Each dog lives at home with a person from the Bear Project, and goes to work with that person every day. It was essential that every dog becomes accustomed to people, respect them and obey their commands.

As the dogs worked together a hierarchy was established and among the four, Copper is the recognized leader, with Lucy, Cyngen and Shawnee following behind in that order. Kelcey extended thanks to Animal Behaviorist & Trainer, Carol Carino for donating her time and expertise towards the program. He also thanked Gloria, Linda and Cathy Blumig from Blumig Kennels for their assistance.

Cyngen says hello to Larissa.

Kelcey explained that when they have a bear that is in need of aversive conditioning things usually begin with catching the bear in question. Usually they are caught in a culvert trap. The dogs bark excitedly at the bear while it is in the trap. When it is released, the curs nip at the bear’s hind end and give chase. The dogs try to surround the bear, and bark viciously at it, being careful to position themselves at opposite sides of the bear, one to its front and another to its rear. When the bear has had enough of this torment it will decide to run at which time it can be assumed that he will not return. At times the dogs will tree a bear and attempt run eight feet up the trunk. The idea is to instill fear into the bear and at no time are the dogs allowed to attack the bear with the intention of killing it; a vibration in their collars controlled by their trainers prevent them from doing so. And at no time is one dog allowed to work a bear; there must always be at least two to protect the dogs from being mauled.

While Kelcey talked and showed his slides, Cyngen quietly made her rounds through the audience eliciting remarks of "good girl" and pats on the head from everyone and in general ingratiating herself to all of the OWLers (except those with allergies). She is slender and muscular, and her calm and serious manner belie the fact that when she is confronted with a bear she displays the ferocity and strength needed to instill the bear with fear. Kelcey said Cyngen’s superior speed gets her to the bear first where she waits for the male with his heavier, more muscular bodies to take over.

Since the program began, the dogs have worked with all types of bears, at least 100 in all. The Curs can’t be used in every situation because of safety issues (working them near a road or highly developed area might be too risky). But the Division is pleased with the way things are going so far, and they are confident that positive results will continue.

Our thanks to Kelcey and Cyngen for sharing their time and knowledge with us. We wish them continued success in the future.

by Sandy Norman