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| Scott Anderson and Bear 71 | Stacy Nye weighs cubbie number 86 |
| Visit UW-GB webpage | Visit US Forest Service webpage |
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| Scott Anderson and Bear 71 | Stacy Nye weighs cubbie number 86 |
This research project is a unique cooperative effort between Professor Robert Howe, Ph.D, at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay; Scott Anderson, a wildlife biologist with the United States Forest Service; and Christopher Katz, D.V.M., a veterinarian at the Two Rivers Veterinary Hospital and an adjunct assistant professor at UW-Green Bay.
Robert Howe Ph.D.Dr. Howe, a native of Bemidji Minnesota, graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame University in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in biology. He also earned a varsity letter in hockey while at Notre Dame. He received his master's degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1977. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. Dr. Howe is currently a Professor of Natural and Applied Sciences and chairs the Biology Department at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.Scott Anderson, Wildlife Biologist,
Scott is a native of Iola, Wisconsin, and received both his B.S. and M.S. Degrees from the College of Natural Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UW-SP). He has been involved in a variety of research projects that have included prairie chickens, spotted owls, peregrine falcons, neotropical migrants, fish surveys, fisher relocation and elk reintroduction into Wisconsin. Scott worked with black bears for 10 years, assisting graduate students in field work for his father, Dr. Ray Anderson, from UW-SP. He is currently a wildlife biologist for the USDA Forest Service on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest at the Lakewood/Laona Ranger District.Christopher Katz D.V.M.
Dr. Katz, a native of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, graduated from Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 1981. He practiced for one year in Manitowoc, Wisconsin before beginning the Two Rivers Veterinary Hospital in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. He began his interest in wildife and exotic animal medicine while working for CR Critters, a wildlife farm in Mishicot, Wisconsin. His wildlife patients have ranged from hummingbirds to bison and include venomous snakes and several of the large wild carnivores (lions, cougars, wolves, etc.). He is the veterinary director at the Manitowoc Lincoln Park Zoo and was the consulting veterinarian on the Wisconsin Elk Reintroduction Committee. Dr. Katz began his work with bears in 1991 under Professor Ray Anderson of the University of Wisconsin-Steven Point and he continued his work on Professor Anderson's project for 10 years.
The research team of Howe, Anderson and Katz is able to bring the fields of biology and medicine together into one research project. Students from both the UW-GB Natural and Applied Sciences and the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine are involved in this research.
The purpose of the research is to understand how bears move in relationship to the seasonal movements of people to and from a resort community. Twenty adult female black bears will be fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) radio collars. Ten of these bears will be near the resort communities of Lakewood and Townsend in Oconto County and another 10 bears will be located in a sparsely populated area near the Argonne Experimental Forest in Forest County. The GPS collars will record the bears' location every 30 minutes from April 1st until November 30th. Data are stored in the collar. Each winter, researchers will return to the dens to sedate the bears and collect data from the collars. Blood samples will also be taken to monitor the bears' health.
Although this research is coordinated and run by the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the U. S. Forest Service, it is funded with contibutions from indivuduals and businesses through the Adopt-A-Bear program which is coordinated by the Two Rivers Veterinary Hospital. No funding is provided by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The Adopt-a-Bear program is a new way of funding research on black bears. A donation of $5,000 covers the cost of adding a bear in the project, (what we call "Putting a bear on the air"). You will then be the guest of the Two Rivers Veterinary Hospital when the reserachers visit the winter den of your bear, usually in February or March, to collect the data from your bear. You will get a copy of all the information is collected on your bear and any babies it may have, including maps on where she was and what she did in the forest during the past 12 months, as well as the results of her blood tests and anesthesia readings. You may well be asked to help monitor her heart or respirations, record data, and help weigh mom and her cubs. Adult bears and yearlings are sedated, but cubs are not. If your bear has had cubs that year, you will hold one or two cubs inside your coat to keep them warm and out of the sunshine while the researchers gather data on their mom. You will be participating in this research not merely observating it. Den visits are really a fantastic experience. I have been doing them for 10 years, and truly remember each one. We hope you can help us study one of America's most fascinating animals. Most sponsors have accompanied us to the dens but some have given the den visit to their children as a gift. One sponsor remembered us in her will and allowed us to choose a student to visit the den.
1. To study two groups of 10 bears; one group near the resort towns of Townsend and Lakewood in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northeastern Wisconsin, the second about 50 miles farther north in an uninhabited area, The Argonne Experimental Forest. The bears will be wearing GPS collars that record their position twice every hour. We will analyze the movements of the bears in relationship to the human population to learn whether bears are drawn closer to areas of human habitation to eat garbage, shrubs and bird food, or pushed deeper into the forest as habitat is lost and replaced with lawn mowers, leaf-blowers, 4-wheelers and the family dog.
Bears are caught in culvert traps Sedation with a low-impact dart Fitting of the GPS radio collar
See Locations of bears collected from GPS collars 2. Since bears are at the top of the wildlife food chain, can they be used as biological "filters" for the detection of disease and toxins within an ecosystem? Have they contracted diseases from livestock and are they likely to transmit them? Do they harbor diseases transmissible to humans?
DISEASES AFFECTING HUMANS AND ANIMALS Brucellosis Tularemia Lyme Disease Eastern Equine Encephalitis Trichinosis Giardia Western Equine Encephalitis Ehrlichiosis Toxoplasmosis Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever West Nile Virus Babesiosis
DISEASES AFFECTING LIVESTOCK AND PETS Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis Bovine Viral Diarrhea Blue Tongue Canine Distemper Canine Parvovirus
3. Can they be used as sentinels for the identification or introduction of toxins (mercury, lead and arsenic) within an ecosystem?
Blood is drawn A tooth is extracted to determine the bear's age Ticks are collected for identification Photo by Barbra Sullivan Photo by Barbra Sullivan Photo by Barbra Sullivan
4. Measure physiologic changes caused by anesthetic agents commonly used in bears to better understand their safety under field conditions.Anesthesia is monitored and recorded Learn more about the DRE ASM 5000 Anesthesia Monitor
Anesthetic agents being studied:
Ketamine with Xylazine Telazol
Physiologic parameters being studied:
Temperature Pulse Respiration ECG Blood pressure Oxygen saturation
Blood pressures, electrocardiograms (ECG's), and oxygen saturation have been reported on a few black bears anesthetized in zoos, but these very important measurements have never been done in remote locations under actual research field conditions. Newer battery-powered instruments will allow us to record and publish these measurements.Serum chemistry profiles and complete blood counts will be run on each bear, every time it is anesthetized. This will help us monitor the health of the individual bear as well as the bear population as a whole. Internal and external parasite burdens will also be measured. The common roundworm of black bears is easily transmitted, and can cause severe medical problems or even death in dogs and humans. The frequency and severity of these infections in bears will help health officials determine what, if any, precautions need to be taken by landowners, hunters, and even taxidermists.
Many of the methods and techniques used in this research have never before been studied. For example:
1. PCR testing for the tick borne diseases (Lyme, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) has never been done in bears. It is far more accurate than any methods previously used.
2. No one has taken anesthesia monitoring equipment into the field to measure all these parameters on wild bears. The only published works on the subject have used a small number of zoo bears.
3. Blood levels of lead, arsenic and mercury have not been studied in Wisconsin bears. No research has ever tested the same bear more than once to determine exposure over time.
4. GPS collars have never been used on bears in Wisconsin. The movement of bears through the forest has been studied at length but their relationship with the seasonal movement of people in and out of a resort community has never been studied.
Another unique aspect of this project is enlisting students from two fields of study from two different universities: graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Wildlife Department and an undergraduate student from the School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison, Wisconsin.
A study of this magnitude has never been undertaken before, solely due to its expense. This research could be done through several smaller studies but these would require more handling of the bears for more years and disrupting them even further. It would require more students, more time, and significantly more total expense. Bears are fascinating and noble creatures, and it is with a certain reverence that we must consider how we study them. We must intrude upon their lives as little as possible and when we do so, learn as much as possible from each visit.
Because of the magnituide of this research project, it is also one of the most expensive. Those wishing to make tax-deductible donations toward this research should E-mail Dr. Katz or call him at 920-793-1187.
