An injured and orphaned black bear wandering around a farmer’s field west of Calgary may be in more danger, after someone left an animal carcass for it to eat.
The bear has an injured paw and is limping, possibly after being hit by a car, according to one concerned biologist.
It is living alone on some private land and has been attracting people both curious to see it and concerned for its safety.
However, wildlife biologist Lisa Dahlseide is worried well-intentioned people are also leaving food for the animal she says is underweight.
“All these empathetic people are stopping and feeding him and habituating him,” she said.
Someone drove onto the field and left a deer carcass several days ago.
Dahlseide said that’s an invitation to all the predators in the area.
Another concern is that the food is keeping the bear in the field when it should be getting ready to hibernate for winter.
“Keeping that food source up for him might also discourage him from also trying to start that process of going to sleep for the wintertime,” she said.
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Dahlseide said she also fears the bear is not strong enough to build his own den, so she and some others have built an artificial den nearby, in hopes the bear would use it.
But she said the animal hasn’t found the den yet and she suspects it won’t try as long as people are feeding him.
“It’s preventing him from finding the den that we have placed on the landscape for him, so he’s not going to leave this area with that continual food source.”
If the bear finds the den, Dahlseide said she plans to ask the province to allow a vet to go in and check its condition.
Meantime, she hopes Alberta Environment will approve a temporary winter shelter permit for the bear at the Cochrane Ecological Institute.
Alberta environment says its position on interfering with the bear hasn’t changed.
“Provincial officials are monitoring the bear and asks the public to keep their distance to allow the bear to den on its own,” a spokesperson said.
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