Black Bears are nothing new to our area, but seeing them on a routine basis is. Bears have been making a low-key comeback around the rugged hills of Schuyler for more than a decade thanks in part to increasingly good habitat and adaptation to living around pesky humans. Consequently, hardly a week goes by that someone doesn’t email or text me a picture of a backyard bruin. According to CCE’s wildlife specialist, Dr. Paul Curtis, male bears are especially active during June and July as they’re out in search of a mate, so keep the garbage under lock and key.
Should those of us venturing beyond the villages be concerned? Probably not, unless you try to take a selfie with a baby cub. But if you live outside of town, don’t act surprised when your bird feeder full of sunflower seeds mysteriously winds up on the ground every morning or your garbage is strewn across the lawn. Bears are here to stay – so adapt, just as they have!
To learn more about your bears and your other woodland neighbors, visit the CCE wildlife blog: http://blogs.cornell.edu/ccednrpublications/wildlife/ and the DEC’s bear page: https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6960.html
Brought to you by:
Brett Chedzoy
Senior Resource Educator in Agriculture and Natural Resources
bjc226@cornell.edu
