Even the sleepiest members of Finland's bear population will soon be up and about

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A few of Finland's population of brown bears are still sleeping in their winter nests.
      These are generally mothers with new cubs and living in the upper reaches of Finnish Lapland.
      If the normal signs hold good, these animals, too, will shortly be coming out into the open, by next week at the latest.
     
"All the other bears look to be on the move after their winter hibernation. Including most of those with cubs in tow", says Special Researcher Ilpo Kojola from the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.
      The first bears usually stumble out of their winter quarters around the third week of March.
      This year the first sightings were made towards the end of March, when several bears were spotted on the move in Häme and Central Finland.
      The soft snow conditions kept those that woke up early close to their nests for some time, and hence tell-tale tracks have only started to appear in greater numbers in the past few weeks.
     
On waking after the long winter sleep, a bear would like nothing better than to bring down an elk for breakfast.
      However, since this spring the weather has been such that the snow will not take the weight of even a slimmed-down bear, such feasting dreams have mostly remained just that.
      Instead the animals have had to make do with carrion from old dumps.
      In Rantasalmi in South Savo over Easter, a large and dark-coated bear appeared in one such location, in which hunters had left scraps from an elk they felled the previous autumn.
      The large male bear learnt of the dining opportunity a couple of years ago and since then has been a regular visitor in the spring. He has been dubbed "Big Black" by the locals.
      Big Black hung out  for a week or so by the feeding station and then headed off on his own.
     
Elk hunter Esko Poutanen follows the movements of bears in the region regularly through tracks and by a special game camera that also allows for night-time photography.
      In the spring a large bear such as Big Black will weigh around 200 kilos, and this will rise by a further 50 kilos by the autumn.
     
Approximately 1,000 brown bears winter in Finland.
      In addition, some 200 or more are cross-border migrants, spending their winters in Russia but returning to Finland for the summer months.
      Human and bear interactivity is pretty much at a minimum, since bears will generally make themselves scarce long before humans spot them, unless a mother with cubs is taken by surprise, when the situation can become dangerous.
      However, as the bear population has increased and spread to new areas of the country, there have been more cases of bears being discovered scavenging in litter bins and gardens, especially at this time of year when they will readily eat anything after a long fast.    


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kainuu predators sitting ducks for foreign nature photographers (20.9.2005)
  Bear-hunt on city streets of Hämeenlinna (9.11.2006)

See also:
  DNA from fur helps in bear census (20.6.2006)

Links:
  Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute

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