Castle Creek Outfitters
Minnesota Black Bear and Whitetail Guide Service.
Hungry bears get spring
hankering, saunter into suburbs on snack search
It's spring, and black bears are
wandering into northern Twin Cities suburbs, as far south as Fridley, in search
of easy snacks until natural pickin's improve.
Anoka and Washington county
dispatchers have received more than 18 bear calls since April in cities from
Scandia on the St. Croix River to Anoka on the Rum River.
Anoka dispatchers handled three
more bear sightings early Thursday morning on Blaine's border with Ham Lake and
in Andover, about a mile from the wooded Rum River, said county communications
manager John Todding. He said dispatchers have fielded at least 15 bear calls
this spring, which seems higher than most springs.
Three Fridley residents spotted a
bear around town on April 22 before an officer, with an OK from the state
Department of Natural Resources (DNR), found and shot a 3-year-old bear that
evening on a Rice Creek trail near Locke Park.
"It's the first bear I have
ever seen or heard about in Fridley," said Lt. Mike Monsrud.
Female bears breed every two
years and drive away their yearling cubs when they are breeding, said Bryan
Lueth, DNR'S north metro wildlife manager. "The problem bears are like
teenagers trying to find their place in the world," he added.
The cool spring has slowed
development of plants that bears eat, he said.
"They learn they can find
jackpots of bird seed in people's back yards, and then they start looking in
everybody's back yard. If people keep replenishing their feeders, they keep
coming back."
Anoka High School students got
their first bear visitor a week ago, said Steve Blaine, school liaison officer
for 26 years. He said teacher Tara Larkin was walking with her class about noon
on a wooded bike path near the Rum River.
"Ten feet away, this little
furry thing runs out in front of them, across the path, down a steep ditch to
Bunker Boulevard and across four lanes," he said.
Lueth said bears live year around
in northern Anoka and Washington counties.
Jim Adams • 612-673-7658