Weighing in at around 1400 lbs (for reeeeaaal!!), this bear won the coveted Fat Bear competition in Katmai National Reserve this year. I know you wanted to know, so I’m sharing the certified election results (no court challenges were necessary). Apparently #747 is the dominant bear in the neighborhood based on sheer size….well, uh, yeah. Seriously - check out these pictures of how big this bear got in just 3 months.
On this side of the country, our petite (by comparison!) black bears are making the most of a great acorn season this year. The recovery of black bear populations in southern Appalachia is a tremendous success story. Since the 1970s when a tri-state partnership (Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, and now also Virginia, Kentucky and South Carolina) began to study the bears and implement conservation measures, bears have recovered from existing in only 10 counties across the whole tristate area, to being full-time residents with growing populations in over 15 counties in Tennessee alone.
I have had the privilege of seeing many dozens of different bears on my hikes or travels around North Carolina and Tennessee, some of which would regularly wander through my yard (and help themselves to my apple trees). They are truly magnificent creatures and I never get tired of seeing sleek, black healthy bears. It feels like the ultimate privilege to be near them, and especially for them to completely ignore me!
I also think it is one of our own human success stories. The fact that we are willing to share our neighborhoods with these large beasts is encouraging. It says to me that we can appreciate wildness even when it’s mildly inconvenient and when it requires attention for how we manage trash-day, and bird-feeding, and other activities that would attract bears in potentially dangerous ways (for both bear and human). But we manage to pay attention and overall, we take pretty good care of our big(ish) neighbors. I don’t know many people in bear-prone areas that mind it at all. In fact most of the folks I know who encounter bears in their yards regularly relish the chance to be a peripheral part of the bears’ daily life.
The Tennessee bears will be starting to look for dens very soon and the females (who head to bed sooner) will begin to hibernate in early November. Meanwhile, it’s ‘eat-as-many-acorns-as-you-can month for our local bruins. I hope they’re all getting fat and happy.
This post will serve as tomorrow’s as well (bit late posting today!), and there’s be some ‘bits and bobs’ on Friday, and then some juicy posts coming next week!
Thanks for being here and sharing my bear-appreciation :-)
So Much Fun! I've been watching this :)