The black bear roaming Southwest Michigan and Northwest Indiana since last summer has been captured by the Department of Natural Resources and put down.
The Department of Natural Resources says the 3-year old male bear was captured at Grand Mere State Park Saturday and shot and killed. Mark Sargent with the Michigan DNR says they set a trap filled with sweets and bacon to entice the bear into the trap, after the bear became aggressive and tried to get into two homes in the area.
“It stood on it’s hind legs, and was pushing on the door trying to push its way in, even though the occupants were yelling at it and screaming,” Sargent said.
The bear was first seen last spring in the Hartford and South Haven area, then traveling through Berrien County and into Northwest Indiana. The bear went after bird feeders in Royalton and Oronoko Townships and Michigan City.
Bears are typically non-aggressive and flee from humans, but a DNR official say this particular bear more recently showed less fear around people.
Sargeant says relocating the bear to the U-P was no longer an option.
“We were concerned about human safety, and the bear was habituated, and already causing a threat to human safety,” Sargent said. “Relocation is just moving that problem somewhere else.”
This was the first time since 1868 that a black bear had been seen roaming in Southwest Michigan.
Complete statement from the Michigan DNR:
The Michigan DNR strives to minimize conflicts between bears and people, and has developed protocols (Michigan Problem Bear Management Guidelines) that outline how staff will handle bear situations when they occur. Over the past year, there have been reports of a black bear roaming throughout southwestern Michigan and northern Indiana. The Michigan DNR has been tracking those reports and basing decisions on the bear management guidelines. Recently, reports indicated that the bear began exhibiting habituated behavior by repeatedly trying to enter occupied homes. This behavior now placed the bear as a “Category II” within the guidelines (bear considered a potential threat to public safety). In addition, the bear was no longer fearful of humans, and was not easily scared off. Human safety is our number one concern. The bear was trapped, tranquilized, and humanely euthanized on Sat., April 9. The bear is now at the Wildlife Disease laboratory for testing, which is standard protocol. Unfortunately, situations like these do sometimes occur; we appreciate the outstanding cooperation that was provided to the DNR from the community.
-Mark Sargent, Southwest Region Field Operations Manager
