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A28 SCIENCE
Monday 7 august 2017

Growing bear population means thousands more teeth to sort

By PATRICK WHITTLE are coming back,” he said.
Associated Press “They just go about their
BRIDGTON, Maine (AP) business of foraging.”
— Carolyn Nistler is at the Jennifer Vashon, a bear
forefront of a boom in a biologist with the Maine
resource that plays a key Department of Inland Fish-
role in the management eries & Wildlife, said the
of American wildlife: bear growing number of teeth
teeth. will provide state wildlife
Nistler, owner of a Mon- managers with important
tana lab, and others are data, as analysis of the
sorting through a windfall teeth is a way to get an
of teeth taken from Ameri- idea of how many young
can black bears, which use bears there are in states.
their powerful jaws to crush Hunters in Maine, who pur-
hazelnuts and chew salm- sue the animals over bait
on flesh. The growing pop- or with hunting dogs in the
ulation of the bears in the state’s vast wilderness, are
United States has scientists required to remove a tooth
sorting through thousands from every bear they kill.
more teeth, which are im- The teeth are sectioned
portant to get a handle and viewed under a mi-
on the health of America’s croscope, making it pos-
bruins. sible to determine the age
“Populations are growing,” This Thursday, Aug 3, 2017, photo provided by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife of the bear by counting
she said. “We’ve increased Division taken in Bangor, Maine, shows the tooth that is extracted from bears that are harvested rings similar to those on a
facilities to accommodate by hunters in Maine. tree stump, Vashon said.
so turnaround time isn’t Associated Press “Another benefit of col-
longer.” lecting teeth is providing
States use bear teeth for comes as the black bear ing in Massachusetts, New bear expert with the North information to the hunter
research about metrics population is expanding Jersey and elsewhere. American Bear Center in about the age of the bear
such as how old the ani- in many states, especially Black bears live in 41 states. Ely, Minnesota. they harvested,” she said.
mals were at the time they in East Coast states like The nationwide population Bear populations have in- Nistler and Vashon both
died, which can be an Maine, where the popula- was more than 400,000 in creased as people have said the volume of teeth
indicator of how healthy tion has grown from 30,000 2008, which is most likely learned to live around the isn’t resulting in an un-
bear populations are. The in 2010 to more than 35,000 double the population in animals, which are mostly manageable backlog of
teeth are most often har- now according to state 1900, and it has expanded skittish around humans, teeth, but it does require
vested from bears killed wildlife managers. Bear even more in the last nine Rogers said. a lot of work. The lag time
by big game hunters, who populations are also grow- years, said Lynn Rogers, a “As attitudes change, they between submitting teeth
seek the burly animals for and getting the results is
Some are also taken from Maine expanding program to typically about eight or
sport all over the country.

roadkill animals. nine months, Vashon said.
The lag causes some anxi-
Nistler owns Matson’s vaccinate raccoons in the wild ety among hunting guides,
Laboratory in Manhattan, who rely on updated wild-
Montana, which processes PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — vention. That compares where there already have life data as part of their
the most teeth of any lab Wildlife officials are boost- to 125,000 doses over a been 30 cases this year work, said Don Kleiner,
in America. The lab con- ing a program to vacci- 900-square mile area last of animal rabies in 15 of executive director of the
tracts with state wildlife de- nate raccoons in the wild year. One of the reasons Maine’s 16 counties, she Maine Professional Guides
partments and processed in an effort prevent the for the program’s ex- said. Those rabies cas- Association. At the same
nearly 260,000 black bear spread of rabies in Maine pansion is to prevent the es include several that time, guides understand
teeth from 2009 to 2016, up and northward into Can- northern spread of rac- made the news includ- that processing thousands
from less than 220,000 from ada. About 351,000 oral coon-variant rabies that ing a woman bitten by a of teeth takes time, he said.
2001 to 2008, according to rabies vaccination baits has been found north of rabid fox on her porch in “I hear some complain-
data provided by Nistler. are going to be distrib- the border in parts of Monmouth and man who ing from my guys that they
A growing bear population uted over a 2,400-square- Canada where rabies has battled a crazed fox in don’t know about the
has created more hunting mile area in northeastern been absent for a couple Topsham. In another case, bears from a year ago,”
opportunities, which leads Maine between Aug. 3 of decades, said Dr. Mi- a jogger was attacked by Kleiner said. “But 3,000
in turn to more bear teeth and 7, said Emily Spencer, chele Walsh, Maine state a rabid raccoon that she teeth have to be segment-
for researchers, Nistler said. of the Maine Center for veterinarian. But the pro- killed with her bare hands ed and looked at under a
Indeed, the tooth boom Disease Control and Pre- gram also benefits Maine, in Hope. q microscope.”q