The Black Bear Comeback

For over 100 years, the teddy bear has been an icon of the warm and fuzzy, cuddled by children and often dragged around to the point of destruction.  Sadly, the real bears that inspired the creation of these stuffed replicas nearly met their own demise by the mid-1900s.   

The teddy bear has been around so long that most folks either never knew or have forgotten that an early 1900s hunting story involving President Theodore Roosevelt inspired its creation.  Legend has it that the President traveled to Mississippi to hunt the Louisiana black bear.  After hours of waiting patiently for a bear to appear, the President broke for lunch, during which time his hunting guide rustled up a bear, struck it over the head, and tied it up.  He then rushed to get Roosevelt so he could shoot the bear. Upon seeing the dazed creature Roosevelt took pity, refusing to shoot the captured bear.

Newspapers across the country broadcast the news of Roosevelt’s act of mercy, including cartoons illustrating the event.  One such cartoon depicts a relatively small bear with a rope around its neck, with the President turning his back to it and holding his hand up in a “stop” motion—an outright refusal to take the bear’s life.  Inspired by the cartoon and Roosevelt’s compassion, an enterprising New York toy store owner created and sold stuffed bears, calling them “Teddy’s Bears”.  This children’s toy became the American icon we now know simply as a teddy bear.

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However, not all hunters were as compassionate toward the Louisiana black bear as Roosevelt.  Though they once roamed across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, the black bear’s numbers dwindled drastically due to overhunting.  With the estimated population down to about 150 bears in Louisiana by 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) listed the Louisiana black bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.  The hunting of this sub-species of the American black bear ceased, and the USFWS developed a recovery plan in 1995.

At that time, the Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) was confined to the Tensas and Atchafalaya Basins of Louisiana.  As part of the recovery plan, the agencies involved established migration corridors between the two subpopulations.  Furthermore, the program set forth ways to protect the corridor and the habitat within.  

For twenty-one years, the USFWS, Louisiana Department of Wildlife, the Black Bear Conservation Coalition, and private landowners worked cooperatively to restore bottomland hardwood forests, which the bears need to survive.  In order to establish new bear populations, state and federal wildlife biologists relocated bears from the Tensas Basin to Bayou Cocodrie, Bayou Teche and Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuges, and the state of Louisiana’s Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area.

As a result, the Louisiana black bear population slowly recovered, to the point where it now totals more than five hundred bears.  This joint effort protection and recovery program was such a success that on May 21, 2016, the Louisiana black bear was removed from the Threatened and Endangered Species List.  

Currently, the black bear is still protected from being hunted in Louisiana.  Maintaining the bears’ natural habitat is essential to their survival.  If their habitat declines, the bears are forced to forage near populated areas.  Opportunistic feeders, black bears are not afraid to dump over garbage cans in search of a midnight snack.  

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Officials warn that while we consider the teddy bear warm and fuzzy, the living, breathing black bears are anything but.  If a black bear wanders into your neighborhood, you are encouraged to call your local department of Wildlife and Fisheries.  LDWF biologists will safely remove the bear and return it to its habitat, with the reminder to never, ever approach a black bear, no matter how docile it appears.

The recovery and resulting “de-listing” of the Louisiana black bear is a project worthy of praise. If he were here today, President Theodore Roosevelt, known as a staunch conservationist, would no doubt be very pleased that the Louisiana black bear lives on, and that his namesake, the teddy bear, remains a much-loved American icon. 

For more information, or to be part of the Louisiana black bear and its conservation, please visit bbcc.org/la-black-bear.