[January 2016 Submission]   Lions and Turtles and Bears, Oh My!

Those who spend significant time in Louisiana forests and on our many state waterways run across an amazing diversity of wildlife.  Whether hunting or fishing for specific prey or just hiking or kayaking for exercise, we can be surprised by unusual wildlife encounters.

My own stroll down a gravel road in rural Winn Parish about three years ago led to my seeing what appeared to be a panther or cougar slowly crossing the road in front of me and less than 25 yards away.  The length between its legs, its tan coloring, and its tail made me certain that this was no bobcat.   On two other occasions in the neighboring woods around then, I heard warning snarls or roars that sounded like those of mountain lions or cougars in zoos and on nature TV programs.  Alone and unarmed, I didn’t begin to attempt to invade that animal’s space.  My guess is that I had seen and heard a Florida panther, based upon photos of these cats on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service web pages.  How the panther migrated or was dropped into the Louisiana piney woods, I don’t know.  Given the increasing presence of feral hogs in the area, though, any panther-like predator would have had plenty prey as food sources.
 

One particular reptile and state resident has been in the news lately.   Back in July, the AP reported that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believed that federal protection might be needed for the alligator snapping turtle.  In her recent AP article, Janet McConnaughey explained that turtles often stay in slow, deep water of states like Louisiana to try to attract and eat fish using their tongues as a worm-like lure.  These alligator snapping turtles can live well over 50 years and weigh more than 150 pounds.  Louisiana banned commercial taking of these types of snapping turtles back in 2004, and Florida banned any harvest in 2009.  Environmental groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity, have petitioned that the alligator snapping turtle be added as an endangered species.  The USFWS is currently conducting a 12-month study to help decide whether to classify these turtles as an endangered or threated.  Efforts to protect their habitat, and particularly, reduce the threat of water pollution, might be expected.  Many who fish regularly have had hooks snagged or bitten by these and other types of turtles.  Unless turtle soup was an intended or opportunistic result, extricating hooks from turtle jaws was just a nuisance.

There was wildlife news earlier this year about Louisiana black bears and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal to remove these bears from the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.  Listed under this act in 1992 and initially gaining federal protection, the remaining Louisiana black bears were largely confined to forests in the Tensas and Atchafalaya River basins.  Since that time, there have been increased state efforts at public education and hunter awareness.  Enforcement penalties are prison sentences of a year and a large fine for killing bears.   The state also started offering a special license plate to residents with the funds raised dedicated to research and education. 

Federal and state level actions have resulted in our black bears now reaching levels of breeding stability or growth so that endangered status will likely end soon.  Confirmed sightings of black bears have occurred throughout the state, with many reports in the northeast and north-central parishes of the state.  Walter Cotton, a supervisory wildlife damage management biologist from the Wildlife Services, reported at a Hill Country Beekeepers meeting in West Monroe over a year ago that young male bears, expelled by their mothers, can roam great distances trying to find their own place.  This movement, particularly, results in human-bear interactions that can be very negative ones.  Several area beekeepers can ready attest that a black bear has utterly destroyed their hives in a particular bee yard.   

Among ways to avoid the presence of troublesome bears is better food disposal and trash management practices.  Cotton explained that the Wildlife Services uses “adverse conditioning practices” on troublesome and captured bears that tend to make them much less likely to want to be around humans. Simply moving these roaming bears to another location often just creates a problem for someone else.  For beekeepers, a simple, electrical fence seems the best approach.  Those experiencing damage or problems with black bears can report this to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and for emergencies contact local sheriff, police, or LDWF.

It’s an important and sometimes controversial task to determine appropriate federal and state policies for protecting our wildlife resources.  Successes have occurred with alligators in recent decades, and with black bears more recently in this state.   That certainly doesn’t mean that we should be eager for a very “close encounter” with a lion, an alligator snapping turtle, or a black bear.