MIKE BRAUN Avoiding run-ins: the bear essentials

Pennsylvania game officials are cautioning state residents to be aware of one of the Keystone State's largest animals as winter segues into spring.
With some 14,000 black bear across Pennsylvania now awakening after their long winter's hibernation, it is expected that many will start snooping around for something to eat until native vegetation starts becoming more green and edible.
"With bears on the move, those residents in areas with known bear populations should consider reducing the likelihood that their properties will attract Bruins," said Mark Ternent, a black bear biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Usually timid: Ternent said that while the state's bears are usually timid and would rather run than fight, those who might come into contact with one of these large animals need to "understand a few things about how they should react if they encounter a bear, or better yet, how to avoid an encounter altogether ..."
He added that letting bears become familiar with humans is not a good thing. "Feeding wildlife, whether the activity is intended for birds or deer, has the potential to draw bears to a certain area," he said. "Once bears become habituated to an area where they find food, they will continue to return to this area."
He added that capturing and relocating bears that have become habituated is costly and ineffective and, in effect, is really just moving a problem from one area to another.
Suggestions: Recommendations have been made by the Nuisance Black Bear Committee that include creation of a second bear hunting season in specific counties (under consideration and possible for the 2002-2003 season), drafting of a regulation that would make it unlawful to feed bears in situations that promote nuisance problems, increase public education of the problem, develop negative-reinforcement conditioning guidelines and develop a statewide system for nuisance bear complaint recording.
A complete list of the committee's recommendations can be viewed at www.pgc.state.pa.us.
braun@vindy.com