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August 2002--The tragic death of a 5-month-old, Esty Schwimmer, taken from her stroller by a black bear in New York State's Catskill Mountains in August 2002, highlights the need for adaptations if citizens are going to coexist with the expanding bear population in eastern states.  This was a highly unusual event because bears are normally afraid of people and don't want to be anywhere near them.  We can only speculate on the cause of this bear's deviation from the norm.  When bears invade human territory, it is usually in search of food.  Had this year's drought perhaps caused the bear seek food closer to humans?  Had some people at the campsite been careless about making food available to bears?  (See later letter to editor from Dora Schomberg.) Or was this an orphaned or relocated bear who had not learned his place in relation to human society?  Whatever the reason, a young human life was lost even though the bear must have been aware of other human presence.  The bear was shot and killed.  Maybe small humans look like prey to a hungry bear.  Two other small children had been present at the time.  Black bears have been known to eat dead humans.  Grizzlies do not.

Strange as it seems, a human is less likely to be attacked by a bear than struck by lightning, but it can happen.  Experts advise the best way of preventing an attack is to make any bears in the area aware of your presence.  To avoid constantly talking out loud to themselves, solitary hikers often tie a small bell to their packs.  Campers should disassociate themselves from food smells as much as possible, eating in one place, sleeping in another.  Absolutely no food in tents or sleeping bags.  Food should be suspended out of reach away from sleeping area.  An attacking bear can be diverted by discarding a backpack for the bear to rummage through in search of food.  In the unlikely event of an actual attack, the experts advise fighting back against a black bear by any available means.  If the attacker is a grizzly, they advise not fighting back and lying face down to protect the viscera, protecting head with arms and not fighting back.  They also advise spreading the legs apart to avoid being flipped over.

People who have bears moving into their neighborhood need to be careful about not attracting them with food, pet food dishes including bird seed and, especially, suet.  Garbage cans must be kept inside or made bear proof.  Here at the Civitas Sanctuary, we moved a chest-type freezer from an open woodshed into the garage after a mother bear and two cubs had enjoyed a picnic with half the contents.  When they returned for more, we yelled at them for their own good and have seen no signs of them since.   The mother was wearing a collar, indicating she had been relocated.

Parents need to be aware that small children may look like prey to a hungry bear, but this is also true of coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions, although there is probably more danger from human predators.
Keep reading for more viewpoints and the effects of hunting:

The New York Times  August 24, 2002
Keeping Bears at Bay
To the Editor:
Re "Killed by a Bear" (editorial, Aug. 21):
It is true that "the best way for humans to keep bears away is to keep food  and garbage locked up." But your suggestion that hunting bears would prevent  conflicts between humans and bears may in fact exacerbate such problems.

Sport hunters tend to take large, adult male bears from populations, leaving the juvenile males more room to expand their range. These younger male bears,  like the one that killed a baby in the Catskills, are much more likely to cause  problems by searching for alternate food sources near human areas.

Hunting bears is not a solution to a problem, but a commitment to a permanent  problem. What's needed is more public education about living and recreating safely in bear habitat, and less recreational trophy hunting.         MICHAEL MARKARIAN
                                                                                        Exec. V.P., Fund for Animals
                                                                                 Silver Spring, Md., Aug. 21, 2002
                                                   __________________

Contact: Anne Muller, President, Wildlife Watch

August 22, 2002
Letter to the Editor -
Bear Attack on Infant
Investigation Needed of the Bureau of Wildlife of the DEC

Black bears normally run from humans. The attack by a black bear on a human
infant was an unfortunate freak occurrence. Yet as aberrant as it appears, it should be vigorously investigated.

Lurking in the shadows of the tragedy is the Bureau of Wildlife (BOW) of the
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Their management of "game"
species for deliberate increase via the manipulation of public lands, and the setting of seasons and bag limits now should come under public scrutiny.  Those who make a study of "wildlife management" have known for years that BOW is the cause of "human-wildlife conflicts," and now with Esty Schwimmer's death, that phrase has been taken to the extreme, and can no longer be tolerated.

What has been kept a secret for too long is that our wildlife management
agencies manage wild animals into high populations for profit. They manage
wildlife for hunting permit fees and excise taxes on hunting weapons. Those
monies never leave the Bureau to benefit the general public, but are used to
perpetuate hunting and the existence of the Bureau.

Little does BOW want that fact known to a public that believes they are the
guardians of wildlife. In the wake of Esty Schwimmer's death, an urgent
investigation is needed to see if wildlife management itself may have played
a role in her death. Simplistically calling for more hunting is merely to
gray out what should be black and white.

Managing wildlife to be hunted deliberately and necessarily increases
populations of hunted species. That in turn inconveniences people, causes
crop depredation, and places the public and wildlife at risk of injury or death.

Hunting creates other types of problems which may have had a role: The
killing of large female "trophy" bear leaves youngsters without an elder to
teach them the way of the world. It takes time for a bear to learn from his
or her elder to harvest food, find water, and avoid danger from humans.

BOW works without public scrutiny on wildlife management areas throughout
the state. They create ideal habitat conditions primarily for those species
managed for hunting. Sullivan County, where the little girl was killed, has
two of the largest wildlife management areas in the state. The Bashakill is
2,213 acres and the Mongaup Valley is almost 12,000 acres of prime bear-growing, deer-growing habitat. BOW terms habitat manipulation "habitat restoration."

A BOW report details a management technique to ensure a continuing supply of
bears whose numbers dwindle after hunting. It suggests delaying the onset
of bear hunting by one week after the start of deer hunting. Managers
report that it gives the mothers a chance to den with the cubs, ensuring
that the males will be the more likely sex to be shot. That's good for the
trophy hunters who are looking for large black bears, and it allows mom to
live to bear more young. It is precisely what BOW does.

BOW profits from big game permits and from excise taxes on weapons used to
kill bear and deer; they profit from bear chasing with dog packs. In fact,
from July through October, they permit hunters to chase bears with packs of
dogs, sending the bears across roads, into towns, and onto private
properties. There have been documented car-bear collisions as a result of
"bear chasing." They profit from taxidermy, they profit from fees paid to
them by private hunt operations that do their own management for bear and
other trophy species. They even "regulate" the sale of bear body parts.
This bureau has turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the public's concern
over depredation, collisions, nuisance, injury and even death. They have
certainly been thoroughly callous when it comes to the wild animals who
endure so much misery.                                                         continued

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It is not unlikely that with the severe drought bears are desperate for food
and water. If BOW's habitat manipulation has unexpectedly been altered by
climate, their funds should be used to provide food and water stations both