Bears in Charleston

Black bear killed by van on I-26
Staff report
Thursday, June 19, 2008

A van hit and killed a black bear that ran onto eastbound Interstate 26 between Jedburg and Summerville on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

A Ridgeville man driving the 2000 van was unhurt in the 3:45 p.m. collision near mile marker 196, said Lance Cpl. Bob Beres of the Highway Patrol. The man was able to drive away.           

                   

                                                                              SC Reported Bear Fatalities                          

The black bear weighed about 150 pounds and probably was younger than 2 years old, said Sam Chappelear, a Department of Natural Resources regional wildlife coordinator for the coast. Chappelear said sightings of black bears are not uncommon in the area. article provided by: http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/19/black_bear_killed_by_van_on_i45009/

These are no Pooh bears

Baited traps set for 2 black bears roaming Naval Weapons Station

By Jessica Johnson (Contact)

The Post and Courier
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Two black bears have been roaming a fenced area of the Charleston Naval Weapons Station.

Employees first spotted them in the ordnance area near Goose Creek. Identification is required to cross the fence, so Don Watts, a natural resources technician for the Weapons Station, assumes the bears swam the Cooper River and got access that way.

“The bears appeared last Wednesday, just out of the blue,” he said. “They’ve been here ever since.”

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources set a live trap Saturday.

“We got cinnamon buns, sardines, bacon, honey, jelly — anything a bear could want,” Watts said.

The bears have walked up and smelled the food-stocked trap — a round, steel enclosure marked with the words “keep out” — but so far they haven’t stepped inside.

The bears, about 200 pounds each, have been spotted each day along the fence line. They run back to a wooded area when a person walks too close, Watts said.

It’s not unusual to see black bears in upper Berkeley County, but the last time one ambled this far south was nearly 20 years ago when one had to be trapped near Hanahan.

Skip Still, a DNR bear biologist, said yearling cubs leave their mothers in May and June as the mother seeks a new mate.

The bears may have wandered to the Weapons Station because dry conditions reduced natural food sources or because their population is increasing. Bears are expanding in numbers and range, Still said, but pose little threat to people.

DNR recommends either standing still or slowly walking away when seeing a bear. And “urban” bears usually will move on once people remove food sources such as bird feeders and garbage cans.

“Bears can learn to live with people,” Still said. “The question is: Can we educate people to live with bears?”

article provided by: http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/may/23/these_are_no_pooh_bears/