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THE BEARS OF BEAR MOUNTAIN - 7 October, 2005
By LAURA INCALCATERRA
lincalca@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
BEAR MOUNTAIN — At first, the gate was too big. But with a few adjustments, it was just right: tall enough to allow the cubs entry into their den while short enough to prevent big-bear Reba from chasing after the smaller twins.
As it was, the folks who run Trailside Museums and Zoo at Bear Mountain State Park were worried that 17-year-old Reba and the 8-month-old cubs wouldn't get along — forcing the relocation of the young siblings from the place Reba has called home nearly all her life.
But the three bears have apparently become the best of pals, said Ed McGowan, who is both the park's science director and the director of Trailside. The cubs, he said, had become a popular stop for zoo visitors.
"They're really entertaining," McGowan said.
They've become celebrities, and Trailside is now sponsoring a "name-the-bears" contest.
The twins, born to a mother who had been kept as a pet, were confiscated by authorities in Kansas. They were first placed in a zoo that was too small to keep them, then brought to Trailside in mid-July after a park worker made the arrangements.
Their arrival hadn't been expected by park officials, and Carol Ash, executive director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, which oversees Bear Mountain, at first said a new home would be sought.
From the start, park officials knew they faced big challenges in trying to relocate the bears.
McGowan said he made a few inquiries, but the zoos he called either already had a bear exhibit or didn't have the capacity to care for bears, which can live well into their 30s or longer.
"They're hard to place," McGowan said.
There's zero shortage of black bears in the eastern United States, and the state Department of Environmental Conservation estimates that New York is home to about 8,000 such creatures.
Brian Antonson always wanted to see a bear in the wild, but relied on the zoo instead. On Sunday, he took his family to the Bronx Zoo and, yes, they viewed the bear exhibit.
It turns out he never even had to leave home.
On Monday, the Nyack man was standing at one end of his back porch and had just ended a phone conversation. He turned around and saw a black bear standing just feet away at the other end of the porch.
This was at a house on Depew Avenue, near the Thruway and Route 59 — pretty much the last place you'd expect to see a bear.
"I just froze," Antonson said.
Soon enough, the bear moseyed off, with Antonson in not-so-close pursuit. The creature casually made his way through yards as Antonson warned the neighborhood.
"He was strolling around like he was a taxpayer," Antonson said.
Antonson called the police, but was told that bears were no longer routinely captured and removed because they were roaming a neighborhood.
Orangetown police said they had received numerous calls from understandably concerned residents. But police, following DEC guidelines, do not as a practice tranquilize and relocate bears, Sgt. Michael Moroney said.
"Obviously, if there was a safety issue, the police would take some kind of action," Moroney said.
For a variety of reasons, both the population and the range of black bears appears to be increasing. Until a few years ago, it was fairly rare to spot a bear in Rockland.
Past sightings have most commonly been reported in areas bordering the mountains in western and northern Rockland. On Monday, one sighting was made in Nyack and another in South Nyack. Last week, a black bear was sighted on Braunsdorf Road in Pearl River, an area with significant traffic.
Male black bears typically weigh about 300 pounds while females hover around 170 pounds. The good news is that they are omnivorous and eat the buds, flowers, leaves, fruits, nuts, stalks and roots of about 80 different plants, the DEC said.
Where the bears in Orangetown may have come from is unclear, but solitary roaming bears are typically young males. Bird feeders and a good supply of garbage will attract them.
The DEC stresses the importance of eliminating all food sources to prevent bears from visiting and to encourage those on scene to move on.
Antonson doesn't know why the bear roamed into his neighborhood, but he won't soon forget watching the bear he was following turn around and stare.
"He looked at me unflinchingly for at least a minute," he said. "I heard this voice from the Animal Planet or something: 'Bears can run faster than a horse.' "
Antonson backed off, unknowingly following the DEC's advice to never approach, surround or attempt to touch a bear.
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