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Where We Left Off:
The previous case file harkened back to days of the old wild west. Two enemies cross paths. They meet in the darkness and fight for food.
Someone Lives Here:
How hypocritical is it that the National Park Service is hosting their most well-known, meme-worthy, fun online event about bears called #FatBearWeek the very same time the state of New Jersey opens up the first of two Black Bear hunting seasons? Is the message that we should educate ourselves on bear behavior, population loss, dehabitation or is it if you see something, kill it?
Let’s Talk Fat Bear Week Before Depressing Stuff
(Or jump right to the Winchester-Nabu case file)
Gus and Ollie know more about probability, statistics, and brackets than I do! Yet, I took that crap in college! We’ll discuss Fat Bears first because it’s far less traumatic for me, the biographer who already has a whole lot to be angry about at home.
The joyous celebration of Fat Bear Week comes to us from Alaska’s Katmai National Park. I’ve never been, but I’m sure it’s breathtaking. Katmai has Brown Bears. Sometimes, this species can share territory with Black Bears. However, since we are an entire continent’s width away from Alaska, the only thing I’d wager is that our beloved Black Bears have never come in proximity of their Brown counterparts of the northwest. I would not wager on anything else because as I said, bad at math.
There are instances when a melanistic bear is not-so-black. Their coats can be blonde or cinnamon, according to Field & Stream writer Steven Hill. He stated that the bears can even have a “grizzled” coat meaning in this instance, with a frosty white or grey tinge like Timothy Omundson. Okay, the writer of the article didn’t mention Timothy Omundson, but he should have. Instead of giving a celebrity like Omundson a cameo in his article, Hill included a pretty great info-graphic showing some of the body shape differences.
In fairness, Fat Bear Week is a popularity contest. It’s not like Discovery Channel’s fake shark battles created with CGI for ratings. Regular people get to vote no matter where they live!
In case you haven’t checked by now after this compelling introduction, Grazer won the 2024 competition! Grazer is my kind of broad. Not only did Grazer and Chunk have real head-to-head encounters where Grazer successfully defended her cubs, but now she’s walloped him in a landslide of popular votes. She was also 2023’s winner!
“128 Grazer was introduced to Brooks River as a young cub in 2005. Since then, she’s become one of the best anglers at Brooks River. She can fish successfully in many locations including the lip, far pool, and plunge pools of Brooks Falls. She can chase down fleeing salmon in many parts of the river or patiently scavenge dead and dying salmon after they spawn. 128 will also fish overnight at Brooks Falls.
128 is a particularly defensive mother bear who has successfully raised two litters of cubs. She often preemptively confronts and attacks much larger bears—even large and dominant adult males—in order to ensure her cubs are safe. On an afternoon in July 2024, both of her first-year cubs were swept over Brooks Falls. The water carried both siblings toward 32 Chunk, the most dominant bear on the river and 32 attacked. 128 rushed to defend her cubs, although not before 32 injured the cub nearest him. The cub later died from its injuries. The surviving cub went on to compete in Fat Bear Junior 2024.
128’s combination of skill and toughness makes her one of Brooks River’s most formidable, successful, and adaptable bears.” —Katmai NP biography of Grazer
Hunting an Apex Predator
“Bear hunting seasons are offered by more than two dozen U.S. states, several of which also have grizzly bear populations, but as of this writing, grizzlies cannot be hunted in the Lower 48.” —Steven Hill, Field & Stream
Oliver crept silently into the office. Sometimes, he is more like a ghost cat than the actual ghost cats here. A ninja, indeed!
When I finally noticed he was there, I spoke in my softer voice. For some reason, I do that with Ollie. “Hi, Ollie. Do you need to go out on the observation deck?”
“No, well, yes,” the round marmalade tabby with white tuxedo accents said. “That’s not the main reason I’m here. I want you to prepare a presentation to give us an update on our local black bears and volkolaks.”
I dropped my head. “Of course, I’d love to do that, b–”
“Great! Now let me out.”
“But, it takes so much time to put one of our multimedia presentations together. I’m teaching a lot of yoga classes this month plus we have Halloween events,” I said it and I meant it. I love making the little documentaries and movies, but even editing still images to incorporate into my terrible snail’s pace typing would be really hard to accomplish in October.
There are five black bears we’ve seen the most often in 2024. There are others who have only made rare appearances or came when no one was looking and bypassed all the cameras. The first bear to come on the screen of the case file presentation film is Silly (short for Silna meaning strong). He and his sister, Val (short for Valkyrie), were born over the winter of The Dark Times 2020-2021. They are the children of Ainsley. We’ve never been sure if their father is Arkadi or Arthur. Val has two cubs this year and she’s been a fantastic mother watching out for them. For our files, we call them Blake and Keely.
The fifth bear is one that took the spotlight in the Case File No. 15-379, code named: The Clearing of the Woods. This is about the bear we decided to call Ridley. His name, according to the internet, means “cleared wood” and that’s been a huge problem here with constant dehabitation/deforestation sold to Planning Boards as a way to add more property tax income. It’s also become a huge problem right next to our own backyard of the Winchester-Nabu estate. The new neighbors are gutting their third of the hill.
Gus and Oliver are avid hunters but they prefer rodents, birds, and toys. Ollie actually likes to make friends with the birds and have long conversations, but he does love a good feather to play with. When it comes to large beasts, whether mundane world or magical, the relationships can go either way honestly. Both of them are enamored with the deer and Jersey devil-deer from a safe distance. Gus loves the bears. You may have seen the video on YouTube of the day he decided he was going to be Silly’s friend.
Case Findings:
The State of New Jersey may have made some advances in a more humane “bear management program” with noteworthy changes such as:
- Hunters may NOT attempt to take or kill a black bear weighing less than 75 pounds (live weight), or less than 50 pounds dressed;
- Hunters may NOT attempt to take or kill an adult black bear that is in the presence of cub(s) (bears weighing less than 75 pounds);
However, the black bear hunt and the laws surrounding “nuisance bears” are still illogical. For example, if you feed birds or leave your garbage cans in an normal garbage can from the sanitation company and bears begin “bothering people,” that makes you liable for a fine because it is illegal to feed bears. Even you didn’t put the food (or garbage) out for bears, if neighbors complain because of bears then those bears are murdered. New Jersey will never address the problem that there are too many empty buildings (commercial and residential) that should be used as safe, habitable green spaces. We need more trees, not less. We need a healthy ecosystem, not human-dominant anthropocene.
Ollie and Gus will, of course, have me keeping tabs on the daily statistics of the hunt during Segment A (now) and B (December).
Case Status: Open
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If you enjoyed #FatBearWeek, consider that NJ opens its bear hunt on Oct 14. I wrote Bear Roots inspired by #PedalsTheBear who was murdered. Bear Roots is a suburban fantasy about volkolaks (shapeshifters) and non-magical black bears and the woman who wants to save them. https://amzn.to/2Jw1JJD |
| “If you followed the tragic story of Pedals the Bear, this author wrote a touching and imaginative story that is a tribute to him, and a call to end the New Jersey bear hunts.” Author Thomas Pluck (Bad Boy Boogie) |
Resources:
Fat Bear Week. (2024). Explore.org. https://explore.org/fat-bear-week
Hill, S. (2023, September 11). Black Bear vs Brown Bear. Field & Stream. https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/black-bear-vs-brown-bear/