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(For The Conversation)
Amid reports that human activities are pushing many wild species to the edge of extinction, it’s easy to miss the fact that some animal populations are expanding.
Across North America, a number of species that were reduced by overhunting and loss of forested habitat in the 1800s are rebounding. This sometimes results in wildlife living near populated areas.
In a recent study, my colleagues and I analyzed one of these comeback species: American black bears (Ursus americanus).
In the early 1900s, black bears were relegated to more wild parts of North America. Today, thanks to regulated hunting and forest regrowth, they have returned to about 75% of their historic North American range. An estimated 1 million black bears now roam from Mexico to Canada and Alaska.
In Massachusetts, where we worked, black bears have expanded from a small isolated population in the Berkshire Mountains to an estimated 4,500 bears across the state. Massachusetts is the third-most densely populated state in the nation, and human development is expanding, sometimes putting bears and people in close proximity to one another.
Other scholars have found that bears shift their behavior from natural areas to human-dominated ones in years when natural foods are scarce. My co-authors and I wanted to know how bears in Massachusetts were behaving around people and human activity. We found that in spring and fall, bears were altering their natural daily rhythms to move through human-developed areas at night.
A nose for
human food
Why would black bears use populated areas? They are omnivorous opportunists with a good sense of smell, and can sniff out calorie-rich foods that often are found in developed areas, such as bird seed, pet food, garbage and even agricultural crops. These foods may be especially attractive to bears before and after hibernation, when the animals are living solely off stored body fat.
Before hibernation in the fall, bears enter a metabolic state called hyperphagia – literally, excessive eating – in which they consume 15,000 to 20,000 calories a day. That’s roughly equivalent to eight large cheese pizzas or five gallons of chocolate ice cream.
During hibernation bears can lose up to one-third of their body weight. And after they emerge from their dens in springtime, natural foods are typically scarce until plants start to leaf out and flower.
Black bears’ energy requirements during these phases can drive their behavior. We examined data from 76 black bear GPS collars across central and western Massachusetts. As expected, the bears we tracked moved around more in daytime than at night, and avoided humans and developed areas during the day. However, we also found that in spring and fall, when the bears had increased caloric demands, they altered their natural daily rhythms to move through human-developed areas at night.
Balancing
rewards, risk
Our findings and existing knowledge about black bears’ seasonal energetic demands indicate that bears may be operating in a “landscape of fear” – a conceptual model that ecologists originally developed in studies of prey species such as elk. Viewed through this framework, an individual animal’s behavior is the result of a cost-benefit analysis that trades off food reward against risk.
For black bears, the reward is high-calorie supplemental food and the risk is encounters with humans.
In spring when natural foods are scarce, and in fall when bears need to gain weight for hibernation, the attraction of food rewards outweighs the associated risks. Still, bears try to mitigate this risk as much as possible by altering their natural activity patterns to visit developed areas at night, when human activity is lowest.
In summer, when natural foods are more abundant and bears are least metabolically stressed, we did not observe these behavioral changes. Bears avoided developed areas at all times of day.
Wild bear gets
suburbanized
The story was more nuanced when we considered individual bears. We developed movement models for each of our collared bears, and found that their responses to some landscape features varied.
For example, we found some bears avoided human development less than others. These bears lived in more populated areas, with densities in their territories of at least 190 houses per square mile (75 houses per square kilometer). Planners classify such areas as country suburbs or early suburbanization.
Our findings indicate that black bears can adjust from living in more natural areas to living in areas with some human development. Factors such as the distribution of bears in an area and the availability of open territories may affect their willingness to settle near humans.

Getting along with neighbors
Our observation of black bears acclimating to developed areas and becoming more nocturnal echoes a wider trend observed among wildlife worldwide. Wild animals are increasing their nocturnal activity in response to development and other human activities, such as hiking, biking and farming. Understanding how, when and why these nocturnal shifts occur can help keep both people and animals safe.
For example, most human-bear conflict arises from people inadvertently making calorie-rich foods, like bird seed, garbage and pet food, available to bears. Knowing that bears seek out these foods more often at night and in areas with certain housing densities can help managers educate people in avoiding conflict. And people who are scared of bears may be comforted to know that most of the time, black bears are just as scared of them.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/black-bears-adapt-to-life-near-humans-by-burn....

August 11 is the 60th anniversary of the death in 1959 of Charlene Richard, a little girl whom many people call “the Little Cajun Saint.” Her story is known across the globe. Miraculous cures have been attributed to her and people come daily to the community of Richard, midway between Eunice and Church Point, to pray at her grave in St. Edward’s cemetery.
Her parents knew she was very sick when the 12-year-old was admitted to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Lafayette in late July 1959. They thought she had a really bad case of the flu. Her parents were devastated when a bone marrow test showed she had advanced, uncurable leukemia. She was not.
Charlene lived for only two weeks after her diagnosis, but during those weeks the maturity of her faith astounded those who ministered to her.
The late Father Joseph Brennan had been ordained only two months and had been chaplain at Our Lady of Lourdes for less than a month when it became his duty to tell Charlene she was going to die.
“I can remember that as I made my way up to the fourth floor, I asked the Lord, ‘Please tell me how to tell a girl of twelve that she has only two weeks to live,’” he wrote in a little book about her ("My Name Is Charlene," Lafayette, 2009) “When I entered the room and gave her my name, I can still hear her saying, ‘My name is Charlene.’”
“The Lord answered my prayer as I heard myself saying, ‘Charlene, you are a sick little girl.’ She said, ‘I know that, Father.’ Then I said, ‘In a couple of weeks a beautiful lady is going to come and take you home.’ Looking at me with those brown Cajun eyes, she said, ‘When the Blessed Mother comes, I will tell her that Father Brennan said hello.”‘
Brennan visited Charlene every day until her death, and recalled ever after her child’s faith and her acceptance of the idea of offering her pain and suffering as a prayer to benefit others. Each day, he said, she would greet him with the question, “OK, Father, who am I to suffer for today?” He and others who witnessed her last days regarded Charlene as a special little girl.
Friends and family gathered each year for the next 30 years for a private memorial Mass on the anniversary of her death.
They, like Brennan, thought they were among just a handful of people who regarded her that way.
They didn’t realize how many others shared their view until 1989, when the family allowed the first public remembrance of Charlene.
They expected perhaps 500 people to come to Richard for the evening Mass. St. Edward’s seats only 400, so they decided to hold the Mass outdoors, just as a precaution.
It was a good idea. The first cars began arriving at 9:30 in the morning. People were still arriving when the Mass began at 7 p.m. Cars were parked for miles in every direction from the little crossroads community. The final estimate was 5,000 people, not 500.
“I thought no one would believe the journey of faith that happened in Room 411,” Brennan wrote. “I was wrong about that. Ten thousand people now visit her grave each year.”
Is she a saint? “That’s for others to say. But I will say that she ... has remained … in my heart and in my life,” Brennan wrote.
To his own dying day, he remembered her willingness to bear her pain in the belief that it could help others.
“You expect this from heroic people of world renown,” Brennan wrote. “But here was a simple little girl from the country who taught a course on how to die.”
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, "Cajuns and Other Characters," is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

Norman “Kitty Kitty” Polidore, 53, a resident of Centerville, La. passed away peacefully on Tuesday, August 6, 2019 at 1:25 p.m. at his residence.
Visitation will be observed on Tuesday, August 13, 2019 at the Mount Zion Baptist Church 307 Second Street in Franklin, La., from 9 a.m. until funeral services at 11 a.m. Burial will follow funeral services in the Franklin Cemetery-Main Street in Franklin, La. The Pastor Noah Smith will officiate the services.
Norman is survived by his mother, Oraline K. Polidore of Centerville; three brothers, Malcolm Polidore and Roman Polidore both of Centerville and Floyd Polidore Sr. of Franklin; two sisters, Wanda Polidore and Gayle Cooks both of Franklin and a host of nieces, nephews and friends.
He was preceded in death by his father and one brother.
Visit www.jones-funeral-home.com to send condolences to family.

The following are the radio dispatch logs from the Morgan City Police Department. To report unlawful or suspicious activity, call the police department at 985-380-4605.

Thursday, August 8
6:46 a.m. Chennault Street; Medical emergency.
6:51 a.m. 300 block of Bowman Street; Animal complaint.
7:05 a.m. 100 block of Ninth Street; Alarm.
7:21 a.m. 1000 block of Duke Street; Suspicious subject.
7:43 a.m. 6600 block of La. 182; Complaint.
8:01 a.m. Sixth and Maryland streets; Open door.
8:04 a.m. 1400 block of Sandra Street; Accident.
9:06 a.m. 1800 block of Dale Street; Animal complaint.
10:49 a.m. 7700 block of La. 182; Stalled vehicle.
11:35 a.m. 1800 block of Filmore Street; Animal complaint.
12:01 p.m. 100 block of Montana Street; Area disturbance.
12:12 p.m. Duhon Road; Assist.
12:17 p.m. 1100 Marguerite Street; Battery.
1:15 p.m. Jail; Two arrests.
2:25 p.m. 400 block of Bowman Street; Alarm.
2:25 p.m. 600 block of Freret Street; Medical emergency.
2:54 p.m. 6500 block of La. 182; Theft.
3:29 p.m. Federal and Brashear avenues; Accident.
3:56 p.m. 900 First Street; Missing juvenile.
4:03 p.m. Glenwood Street; Missing juvenile.
4:25 p.m. 100 block of Youngs Road; Escort.
4:27 p.m. 300 block of Second Street; Alarm.
4:35 p.m. 600 block of Terrebone Street; Battery.
5:40 p.m. 7100 block of Park Road; Harassment.
6:52 p.m. 2300 block of La. 70; Reckless driving.
7:11 p.m. 600 block of Front Street; Harassment.
7:24 p.m. Arizona Street; Suspicious person.
9:08 p.m. 1100 block of Marguerite Street; Assistance.
9:10 p.m. 1000 block of Greenwood Street; Medical.
10:12 p.m. Chennault and Halsey streets; Suspicious person.
10:19 p.m. Garber Street; Disturbance.