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National Geographic : 2002 Mar
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But black bears are remarkably adaptable. Although licensed hunters kill 40,000 bears annually, they have made a comeback in the past 50 years. New Hampshire's popula tion now accounts for about 5,000 of the 700,000 black bears living in 32 states, Canada, and Mexico. As the number of bears increases and human settlement pushes farther into their habitat, encounters between bears and people become more common. The number of incidents on woodland trails and at bird feeders and gar bage cans grows. And our ambivalent attitude persists: We like seeing bears in the woods, but we don't like it when they want to come into the house. Our fears, however, are unwarranted: Since 1900, 43 people have been killed by black bears in North America (a person is far more likely to be struck by lightning). As with most wild animals, our fear is a result of ignorance. "We know more about the behavior of the lions, wildebeests, and elephants on the Ser engeti Plain than we do about the bears that live in our backyards," Ben said. "When I got interested in bears, I read everything I could get my hands on. There wasn't much. There were population and range studies but almost nothing on behavior. I couldn't believe it." Ben was also intrigued that many orphan bears didn't fare very well after they had been raised and released into the wild. They often died or became nuisances with a penchant for showing up where they were not welcome. "The usual way to raise orphans is to min imize contact-put a tarp over their cage so they can't see people stick food in through a hole. The idea is that they won't get used to people feeding them. It's ironic, though, because bears know the world primarily through smell, and they know very well who's on the other side of the tarp. The bears are kept in enclosures for 18 months, then released into a world they know nothing about." Ben tried a different approach. He learned from Wobbly and subsequent cubs he raised that bears are sensitive, intelligent, and emo tional creatures that need more than food. They need security, affection, and someone to teach them. At first Ben kept Yoda, a gentle female, and Houdini, a male with a penchant for escaping, in his house, encouraging them to play with him and each other. The cubs soon came to treat Ben just as they would their mother crawling into his lap to nurse, suckling his fingers and ears as signs of affection, and
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