In June 2008 a Florida wildlife biologist named Adam Warwick swam into the Gulf of Mexico and pulled a sedated black bear back to shore before it could drown. The bear, a 375-pound male, had been darted with a tranquilliser after wandering through a neighbourhood at Alligator Point, about 40 miles south of Tallahassee. Instead of collapsing on land, it bolted into the water just as the drug began to take hold.
Warwick worked for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Seeing the bear swimming away from land and getting slower, he went in after it, got between the animal and open water, and steered it towards the beach. With help from colleagues and local residents, the bear was loaded onto a truck and released in Osceola National Forest near Lake City.
The sequence of photos below, taken by Becky Bickerstaff and later shown on CBS's The Early Show, follows the rescue from the first sighting to the release. Each caption explains what is happening and why it mattered. At the end you will find some background on Florida's black bears and what residents can do to avoid encounters like this one.
A hungry bear in a beach community
The trouble started on land. The bear was seen roaming a residential area, apparently looking for food, and photos show it with its head in household rubbish. Black bears are opportunistic eaters, and a bear that learns that bins mean easy calories will keep coming back.
Wildlife officers decided to sedate the bear and move it to a forest away from homes, a common way of handling a bear that keeps visiting a neighbourhood. A tranquilliser dart takes several minutes to work, and in that window a frightened animal can run a long way. This one headed for the water.
Into the Gulf of Mexico
The bear entered the Gulf near a line of private docks. Black bears are strong swimmers, so the water itself was not the danger. The problem was the drug: as the sedative took effect, the bear would lose control of its legs and its head.
The bear kept going out rather than back towards land. Warwick later described it as starting a swim of several miles across the harbour, far beyond what a sedated animal could manage.
Warwick reached the bear and took hold of it. He told The Early Show he wanted "to try to get in front of him and keep him from swimming out there and drowning." A bear that drowned after being darted would also have been a failure of the whole relocation.
A wider view shows the scene: the biologist in the water next to the bear and colleagues on a small boat close by. The bear was about 25 yards from shore when Warwick reached it.
Swimming alongside, Warwick placed himself between the bear and open water. The boat stayed close, but it could not lift a heavy, drowsy animal, so the only way back was to guide it to the beach.
Holding a 375-pound bear above water
A close look shows how near the bear was to going under. As the drug deepened, it struggled to keep its head up and at one point tried to climb onto Warwick to stay afloat.
Warwick held the bear around the neck and shoulders to keep its nose clear of the water. Even sedated, a bear of this size has the strength to injure a person badly, which is why this was a judgement made by a trained officer, not something anyone else should try.
Step by step, the pair moved into shallower water. Warwick's own injuries were limited to cuts on his feet from barnacle-covered concrete blocks and a single scratch from the bear.
Here the bear's paws are close to touching bottom. Getting its feet under it mattered, because once it was standing it could no longer slip under the surface.
By this point the bear was barely moving. Warwick stayed with it in the shallows, keeping it upright until more hands arrived.
Back on land and back to the forest
Other people waded in to help with the final stretch. Moving an unconscious bear even a few yards is heavy work; adult males in Florida average around 300 pounds and this one was heavier.
A backhoe operator offered the bucket of his machine, which made it possible to lift the sleeping bear out of the water without dragging it. Improvised help from local residents is often what makes a wildlife rescue work.
With the bear safely in the back of a truck, Warwick checks on it. Wildlife officers monitor breathing and temperature closely while an animal is sedated.
The bear was released in Osceola National Forest, a large area of pine flatwoods and swamp near Lake City in north Florida. Moving it far from homes and rubbish gave it a better chance of staying out of trouble.
Living alongside Florida's black bears
Florida's black bears were once heavily hunted and pushed out of much of the state, but populations have recovered, and more bears now live close to towns. Most encounters start the same way this one did: with food left within reach.
FWC's advice for residents is practical:
- Keep household rubbish in a garage, shed or bear-resistant container, and put it out on the morning of collection rather than the night before.
- Feed pets indoors, clean and store barbecue grills, and pick up fallen fruit.
- Remove bird feeders or make them bear-resistant; screened porches do not keep bears out.
- If a bear comes into your yard, stay somewhere safe, make sure it has an escape route, and scare it off with noise from a distance. Never approach or feed it.
Warwick's swim is remembered because it was brave and unusual. The everyday work of keeping bears and people apart is less dramatic, but it is what stops bears from needing a rescue in the first place.
Sources: CBS News: Man saves black bear from drowning (2008); Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: Living with bears; Wikipedia: American black bear. Photos by Becky Bickerstaff, as credited on CBS's The Early Show.
Related:- A Diver Helps a Dolphin Entangled in Fishing Line in Hawaii
- Patrick the Dog: A Rescue and Recovery Story in Photographs
- He Was Found Freezing And Dying. Yet Somehow The Last Photo Made My Entire Year
- What Do You Think This Guy Is Doing? You Will Never Guess…. And It’s Going To Break Your Heart
- A Chimpanzee Task Video and the Interpretation of Its Outcome
- A Short Environmental Film About Consumption and Its Consequences
- China Outlaws The Eating Of Endangered Animals
- Australia wins whaling case against Japan
- India Declares Dolphins "Non-Human Persons", Dolphin shows BANNED.
- Bolivia Gives Legal Rights To The Earth
- Floating Seawer Skyscraper Rids The World’s Oceans Of Plastic While Generating Clean Energy
wow
ReplyDelete