South Carolina GPS Tracking of Bears in Populated Area
17 Mar 2015Bears are becoming a problem in South Carolina neighborhoods, so a research team is using GPS tracking to get a handle on it.
Due to the increased level of development through the city of Horry County, SC, the neighborhoods are growing rapidly. Unfortunately, the amount of bears being seen in these neighborhoods is also becoming more prevalent.
When new residential areas are built, the bears lose their natural habitat and have to start looking for shelter and food in other places. In Horry County, it has been local neighborhoods, frightening adults, children, and other animals.
One man does construction in the Barefoot Resort area, and he has seen bears more than once. He noted that they cross the street like a deer would.
Researchers from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) have made it their mission to reduce how many encounters occur between bears and people, while still protecting this precious wildlife.
They have decided to use GPS tracking technology. GPS, which most people know as the technology used for mapping and navigation, can be incredibly useful in this type of project.
The head researcher is Unit Biologist Kayla Brantley, who works for both Georgetown and Horry counties. She is looking for a good place within the Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve to place the bear traps.
“I like to look around for if there’s any scat in the area or if there’s tracks in the sand from where they walk through,” Brantley told reporters. She said that once she picks the right location for the bear traps, she will set it up using corn inside, which can help attract the bear. “Ideally the bear will come in and when he steps on that treadle, the door closes and it locks.” Brantley continued.
After the bear has been trapped, it is first tranquilized with a safe tranquilizer that does not cause harm to the bear. Then, the bear is removed from the trap and equipped with a collar that has a GPS tracker inside. The data from the collar can be downloaded by nearby satellites and sent to a computer software program or email address. This data shows where the bear has been and how far it traveled into various neighborhood.
Brantley and her research team have successfully tagged six bears and sent them back into the wild in the same area where they were trapped. The team is hoping to look through the data once enough is collected, and find out more about the bear’s behavior, movements, and what the different motives are for traveling in certain areas of the nearby towns.
They want to know everything from what neighborhoods they tend to target, if they’re going at night, and what the crossing roads are where they typically travel. They can help protect people and make them more aware, but they can also lower the risk of a bear being injured when trying to protect people who happen upon an encounter.
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