By Rick Pusiak
For decades now wildlife groups have rescued and raised orphaned bear cubs and later released them back into the wilderness.
 |
While the intention is good, thereÂ?s apparently no scientific data on survival rates or the ability of bears to adapt after eight months of guaranteed meals in a shelter.
That will change in a couple of years thanks to a scientific study being undertaken by the Northern Environmental Heritage Institute at Cambrian College.
Director Joe Hamr and Laurentian University student Matt Binks are in the process of placing transmitting collars on 60 yearlings and will track the animals for 24 months.
Â?Are these bears going to become successful members of the bear population or are these bears going to slowly waste away because they canÂ?t find enough natural food, because they are not adapted to looking for natural food,Â? said Hamr.
Â?Come spring, these shelters wait until the green-up, and then they take the bears back out into the bushÂ?they feel warm and fuzzy inside about what theyÂ?ve done, but no one really knows what happens to those bears because thereÂ?s no follow up done.Â?
For the study HamrÂ?s team received permission to take 20 yearling bears from a shelter north of Sudbury, as well as a similar number of bears from a shelter south of Parry Sound, and another facility west of Huntsville.
There are 10 males and 10 females in each release group.
Forty of the animals have already been set free in remote areas with the last group of 20 scheduled to make the return trip to the wilds in the near future.
The Huntsville shelter wanted to hang onto its bears to make sure there are enough berries in the woods.
Before release, the bears are tranquilized with a jab stick and given an expandable light weight transmitting collar.
A microchip tag is placed under the skin on the back of the bear and, if the originating shelter
Â?We just want to determine whether itÂ?s even worth it to invest that much time and that much money into the rehabilitation of bears, whether itÂ?s effective or not, and if it isnÂ?t, how can you improve itÂ?s effectiveness.Â?
Nuisance bears have started to poke their noses around outlying areas.
Early Thursday morning local police put down a severely injured bear that had been hit by a car on Montee Rouleau.
