“I have 31 bears here right now. They’re my babies,” Oswald said.
You can find YouTube videos of Oswald bottle feeding his “babies,” usually given to him after their mother bears are killed in logging or cars accidents.
He says he’s gotten about a dozen bears from state agencies like the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan; from Ohio, Minnesota, New York and South Dakota. Some come from breeders who can’t sell the bears, Oswald said.
“If I don’t have them they’re going to be euthanized,” Oswald explained.
Michiganders could have the chance to pet and take photos with bear cubs, under legislation approved by the House, and passed by the Senate last month.
Senate Bill 48 would amend the state's "Large Carnivore Act."
More from the Associated Press:
The bill approved by a 56-52 vote Thursday would free up facilities to allow the handling of bear cubs up to 9 months old or weighing no more than 90 pounds...
The legislature passed a similar bill last session, but it was vetoed Snyder. It had been tied to another bill Snyder had concerns about, but he encouraged the Legislature to re-introduce this bill on its own this session.
Senator Rebekah Warren was one of the Senators who voted against the bill.
She says lawmakers should put residents’ safety ahead of the financial benefit of a single business.
“It’s just this reminder that wild animals do always have the potential to be dangerous, to act in a way that’s unpredictable that could result in harm to our citizens.”
The bill will now go back to the Senate for final approval and then make its way to Gov. Rick Snyder's desk where it will likely be signed into law.
Legislation to allow tourists to hold and pose for photos while holding bear cubs is being criticized by Michigan’s zoo keepers.
The state senate passed a bill this month that would allow exhibitors to let people come into very close contact with bears less than nine months old and under 90 pounds.
The legislation is intended to help a bear sanctuary in the Upper Peninsula that funds its operations, in part, by letting tourists hold and pose for pictures with bear cubs.
Tara Harrison says that’s a bad idea. She’s the veterinarian at Lansing’s Potter Park.
Bills to ease restrictions on owning and breeding large carnivores in Michigan are likely to come up again in 2013.
Governor Rick Snyder recently vetoed the legislation because of language he said would compromise public safety.
Republican state Senator Joe Hune said the measure has attracted unfair criticism. He said many opponents cite an incident in Ohio a year ago, when a man deliberately freed a number of dangerous exotic animals he owned.
There's been a spate of black bear sightings in West Michigan over the past few days with at least one birdfeeder as a casualty.
Residents in Greenville, about 25 miles northeast of Grand Rapids, saw a bear wandering around a residential neighborhood and sightings have also been reported in nearby Lowell and Vergennes Township this week.
Wildlife authorities with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources don't know if it's the same bear being spotted, or more than one.
Bear sightings in general in many parts of the Lower Peninsula have become more common over the past few years.
[Bump] said a lot of the time, the bears are young males that get pushed out during the breeding season. They’ll head down looking for new territory.
“It’s not that we’re completely full up in the north – it can’t take one more bear – it’s just that we’re getting more taking the chance and moving south.”
He said bears like to travel along rivers and forested corridors and they appear to be finding good routes to travel...
Bump said some female bears appear to be moving south too. And some might be setting up camp... and having babies.
“We think we have an established population now as far down as Grand Rapids, possibly into Ionia County. We're getting more and more reports of bears in southern Michigan, even bears that are too young to have moved, so they had to have been produced in southern Michigan.”
This past February, Williams and producer Mark Brush got the chance to tag along with MDNR biologists in Oceana County as they tranquilized a black bear to replace a radio tracking collar.
Now that the warm weather is here, the collared bear is likely loping around in search of food.
You can see the bear in a deep sleep in the video below.
An 11-year-old male black bear that was just placed back in his den after a checkup by DNR bear experts. He's still under the effects of the tranquilizer in this photo, but the drugs will wear off soon.
Credit Mark Brush/Michigan Radio
DNR bear researchers climb into the den to pull the tranquilized bear out.
Credit Mark Brush/Michigan Radio
The DNR's Dwayne Etter checks to make sure the bear is breathing well (he was).
Credit Mark Brush/Michigan Radio
The DNR's Dan Moran checks to make sure the bear's new collar is working.
Black bears are doing really well in Michigan. The Department of Natural Resources estimates there are somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 black bears in the state. They’re mostly in the U.P. and the northern lower peninsula. But in recent years... bears have been heading south and pushing into new territories.
Bears have been spotted in the Thumb, and around Flint, Grand Rapids, Battle Creek and Lansing.
Black bears have been doing well in northern Michigan for a while. There are somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 bears in the state, mostly in the U.P. and the northern lower peninsula, but in recent years, bears have been on the move.
Some people are already getting a little closer to bears than they’d like to.
“There’s one coming up to inspect...”
Terry Klein is a commercial beekeeper and he’s checking on the hives in his backyard.
“These are in good shape if they’re that far down and there’s that much honey on them,” said Klein.
He lives in St. Charles. It’s about 20 miles southwest of Saginaw.
“This spring is the most recent fun we had with the bear, if you want to call it that.”
Klein had 20 hives set up near the Saginaw-Midland county line. Only two of them survived the winter. And those last two hives were the ones the bear decided to eat. He left behind a calling card.
“There was one very definite paw print in one of the frames that had fallen or got knocked out of the hive, and there were several other frames that you could see claw marks.”
Bears do love honey, but they also love to eat the bee larvae. So they can devour the entire hive.
Black bears are not just wandering into the Saginaw area. They’ve been showing up all over southern Michigan.
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