High On LeConte
  • Home
  • Daily Posts
  • LeConte Team
  • FAQ's
  • Trail Guide
  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimer

Bear #567

8/1/2012

 
Picture
Park biologist, Rick Varner, did the work up on bear  #567.
It turned out to be a 75-80 lb male. Rick was estimating him to be about two years old. Judging by the speed, the bear ran out of camp hoping to never see us again. He awoke with two new earrings, a tattoo, and a tooth that was missing. It sounds like a bad morning after a night on the town. I am guessing, by the fact we have not seen him anymore, that he is done with this place. He is on to find a patch of blackberries or some little critter that he can out run. I hope we never see #567 again. That means it was a lesson learned and life saved. 

Today is turning out to be a beautiful day up top. We received 1.3" of rain yesterday. The sun is out and the sky is blue today. I think it is time to do some laundry so it might actually dry. 
Jessica
8/1/2012 05:58:59 am

Glad for a happy ending. I always long to see bears but understand the need for this action. Hope he is not a return visitor and, instead, I get see him or some of his kinfolk out on a trail somewhere...from a proper distance...with my telephoto lens handy.

Deb
8/1/2012 06:08:36 am

Glad this was a happy ending and this bear has moved on.

Linda
8/1/2012 06:48:39 am

Good job! Glad all went well.

Debi link
8/1/2012 02:13:21 pm

Wow! The guest got to see a bear today, and the ranger doing a great job.

jennifer
8/1/2012 02:21:15 pm

We will never know if the bear has a happy ending. His mouth may become infected and he will be unable to eat. Or the holes in his pierced ears become infected. And what 's with the tattoo? Aren't the ear piercing enough? The bears get more grief from the rangers than from curious people.

IN Tony
8/2/2012 01:00:56 am

@Jennifer:
The chances that the bear develops an infection after the extraction is very small. That goes for his ear tags as well.
The tattoo is for identification, I would guess, if the bears loses the ear tags. Any one else have a thought on that one?
I think that history has shown us that "curious people" are the cause of more bear deaths than Rangers. There is a saying, "A fed bear is a dead bear". When bears are fed they forget to forage on their own, they associate people with food. Then they tend to become more aggressive. Aggressive bears are put down by the Rangers (as a result of the actions of "curious people").
The actions of the Park Rangers will serve to help the bear live a long life.

High On LeConte
8/2/2012 01:29:58 am

Tony is right. I will also add that the biologist does put antibiotic ointment on the ear before he inserts the ear tags. These biologists care for the safety of these animals. They want to do everything necessary to insure a long, happy, wild life for the bears.

Devin R
8/2/2012 01:31:26 am

I'm glad to see that the last post was mostly tongue-in-cheek. I assumed it was, but I didn't know exactly how strongly you guys felt about bears being around the Lodge! ;)
I understand the need to educate people to not feed the bears and proper storage and desposal of food/trash when they're in the Park, but I'm not sure that I agree with chasing them away and making the Lodge a "Bear-Free Zone." Afterall, the Lodge is in the middle of a National Park and a huge wildlife area...bears come with the territory, and they were there first anyway. :)


Comments are closed.
    Picture

    LeConte Lodge

    Welcome to the official blog of LeConte Lodge. We hope you find the information provided here both helpful and enjoyable.  Thank you for visiting the site, and we hope to see you on the mountain!

    Online Store

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010

    RSS Feed

For current GSMNP road and trail information, visit the Park's Twitter page, official website, or call 865-436-1200 and follow the prompts.

Picture

Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture