Black Bear

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A black bear after a visit to the taxidermist. Trophy is on loan to the local tourist association for the summer.

The Labrador barren-ground black bear are some of the largest black bears on earth and weigh up to 840 kg (1850 lbs.)

Bears visit town to get easy food from the trash bags in back yards. Many people have wooden boxes to hold their trash bags to help eliminate the bear problem. There has only been one incident when a young girl accidentally got between a mother bear and her cub. The mother bear apparently realized the child was not a threat and bumped her over without hurting her while hurrying to her cub. Bears often get into cabins and make themselves at home by opening cans of beans and licking the can clean; they do not open cans that they will not eat. Since we doubt they read, they must have a very accurate sense of smell. One bear walked into a home and started into the kitchen when the family dog started barking and frightened the bear away. We occasionally find bear tracks in the soft gravel of our driveway.

In 2000, there was a three legged mamma bear with triplets wandering around town generally making a nuisance of herself. Her sighting would cause a flurry of activity as residents would converge where she was last seen to try to get a look-see. Around 2 o'clock AM, she was sighted with her cubs walking through the bottom floor of the pellet plant at IOCC. Mrs. Bear went one way and all the shift workers went the other. After that incident the large, external doors were closed and all edible garbage was dumped in a trash bin outside.

Another time she decided to take a tour of the mine site. While on this excursion, one of the cubs decided to climb to a transformer platform. It was surmised that the bear cub must have enjoyed the heat coming from the transformers because after scratching her back on it, she rolled over and went to sleep. Having only three legs, mamma couldn't climb the pole, so she was on the bottom, looking up and having a hissy fit. While she was having her parental fit, the other two cubs climbed up to join the other and quickly went to sleep, also. Finally a forestry official, using a tranquilizing dart gun, put mamma to sleep, then using a fork lift was raised up to the transformer platform and rescued the three cubs. All four bears were caged and transported deep into the woods from which they emerged two days later to continue foraging through the town's garbage.