A hungry black bear on June 21 broke into a residence in the Washington County town of White Creek and destroyed the kitchen while searching for food.
As a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation police officer (ECO) reviewed photos of the bear at the residence, the animal returned to the yard and became aggressive.
DEC wildlife experts advised that the bear would need to be put down humanely due to it associating the residence as a food source and displaying aggression to humans. The bear was caught in a DEC culvert trap the following morning and euthanized to prevent any further unsafe interactions with humans.
DEC encourages residents to keep food attractants away from areas accessible to wildlife and reminds the public not to approach bears and to practice the “BearWise basics” to help reduce the potential for negative interactions.
The following reports are excerpted from DEC:
ECOs captures this young timber rattler inside a Lake George hotel and relocated it into the wild. Lake George and the South Bay area on Lake Champlain contain a large breeding population of timber rattlesnakes.NYSDEC
On June 20, two ECOs were attending a training course in Lake George on the safe handling of rattlesnakes when they received a call about a rattlesnake in a local hotel on the lake just minutes away. The ECOs caught the young timber rattler and relocated it into the wild. Lake George and the South Bay area on Lake Champlain contain a large breeding population of timber rattlesnakes.
A hen mallard hatched nine ducklings in an enclosed courtyard at Amityville High School this spring. Since the courtyard had no natural water, food sources, or shelter for the ducklings, school employees fed and watered the birds. On June 21, an ECO captured the ducklings and moved them to a grassy area next to the school under the hen’s watchful eye. Before long, the mother reunited with her ducklings.
This injured bald eagle was too big to fit inside a transport cage, so a conservation officer wrapped it in his jacket for the trip to a rehabilitator.NYSDEC
An injured bald eagle stopped traffic on the Thruway near Angola on June 19. An ECO tried to get the bird into a transport cage but it was too big, so the ECO improvised and wrapped the eagle in his jacket for the trip to a rehabilitator. The eagle was then taken to a local veterinarian for care.
Somebody planted invasive bamboo along Ellicott Creek in the town of Amherst last month. An ECO visited the site, identified the plants, and confirmed they were golden bamboo, commonly called fishing bamboo, a prohibited invasive plant that grows quicky and forms thick monocultures preventing native plants from growing in the same area. The ECO removed the plant and disposed of it.
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Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors for The Post Standard, syracuse.com and NYUP.com. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com or on Twitter @featheroutdoors. You can also follow along with all of our outdoors content at newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/ or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/upstatenyoutdoors.