Today in conservation biology lab we visited Jacobsburg State Park and learned a little bit about park management, the issues park managers face, and how issues with park management are addressed. While walking the Henry’s Woods, and old growth forest, the park manager, Mr. Robert Nietz, asked what the biggest wildlife interaction issue in the state of New Jersey is. Without hesitation I raised my hand and responded, “Bears!” I can thank Nature Wars for this answer. He continued to tell us a story about a bear sighting at Jacobsburg that reminded me a lot about the chapter on bears in Nature Wars.

He told us at one point during this summer a family of black bears entered the park. He was not at the park at the time, but was called in to handle it. Mr. Neitz said when he arrived one of the cubs had climbed up the tree in fear to avoid the mass of people that gathered to get pictures with their cell phones of the spectacle. He said in addition to this unfortunate incident that some of the people had proceeded to follow the mama bear and her other cub across the Bushkill. He pointed out that mama bear could have very easily become aggressive in the presence of her cubs, and it was pretty clear he was not pleased with the actions of Jacobsburg visitors on that day.

This story brought me back to the chapter on bears as it demonstrated our skewed perception of this animal. We think of them as cute, cuddly things that will not do us any harm. However, because people see bears that way, bears are often mistreated and that day in Jacobsburg could have gone much more differently if Mr. Neitz and the park staff had not moved people along and stopped visitors from following the bears.