Scientists Study California Black Bears

  ASSIGNMENT 7

Aug. 15 - KGO (KGO) -- Most people's idea of a safe meeting with a bear is one that takes place at the zoo. But scientists near Lake Tahoe are trying for a more intimate encounter. They're launching a study on how bears behave in the wild, and to study them, they have to examine them up close.

Jennapher Miller works for the State Department of Fish and Game. This summer, she's starting a research project she expects to last her entire career. She's looking for bears.

Jennapher Miller, California Dept. of Fish & Game: "It's fun, but it's hard. Trapping bears, you have to outsmart an animal that is probably smarter than us." (laughs)

Jennapher is in the Sagehen Forest 20 miles from Lake Tahoe. She knows there are bears here because she's seen their work.

Jennapher Miller: "What they do is they'll flip stuff over and dig through it and then they'll just eat the termites and the beetles that are inside."

She's also found bear tracks and droppings in the area. So it's the perfect spot for a bear trap. This one uses a metal cylinder in the ground, with sardines at the bottom. An airplane cable creates a snare around the opening and it's attached to a nearby tree. Jennapher used a log to show us what happens when the bear puts its paw in the hole. The snare is designed not to hurt the bear.

Jennapher Miller: "The bear will pull on it and it will get tight and once he stops pulling, this cable will cause it to loosen up a little bit so it doesn't cut the circulation off."

Once the trap is set and camouflaged, researchers check it several times a day.

Jennapher Miller: "If you catch one bear in a hundred trap days, that's pretty good."

Jennapher caught her first bear in just 30 days.

Video provided by the Sagehen Creek Field Station, run by UC Berkeley, begins right after the bear is tranquilized. A team of experts moves in immediately. They include Doug Updike, Fish and Game's Statewide Bear Coordinator.

The bear can't feel anything, but it's not actually asleep and may be somewhat aware of what's going on. The team puts a bandana on its face and talks in whispers to keep the atmosphere calm while they do the examination.

Jennapher Miller: "The nice thing about these bears is they are not habituated to humans."

The bear is a female. Although her fur is brown, she's actually a California black bear. Researchers check her teeth carefully. They'll pull one which will be used to determine her exact age. She appears to be about five or six years old, very healthy, but on the small side, about a hundred pounds.

Jennapher Miller: "We'll take a hair sample for DNA analysis. We're doing some genetic work on them."

One of the most critical pieces of the project is a radio controlled collar with a global positioning device.

Jennapher Miller: "It will get a location from a satellite every seven hours, stores it on board and the collar is programmed to drop off a certain number of days before the battery starts to go dead. We put GPS collars on adult females because we want to monitor the movement and get an idea as to how they use the habitat. You won't put it on a male because they will disperse out of the area you are studying probably."

In addition to the collar, the bear's ears are tagged for identification. Jennapher and the team hope this bear is just the first of many they will track in the sage hen forest.

Jennapher Miller: "Bears are an umbrella species and you can use them as an indicator of habitat health."

The whole process lasts about 45 minutes. Then the team moves away and watches to make sure the bear is okay as the tranquilizer wears off. A few hours later, Jennapher confirms the bear is moving around and the collar is working.

Jennapher's research will eventually focus on what happens to bears when they hibernate which may hold clues that could improve human health.

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