Page 15 - Sentinel May 2018

VULPES Continued from page 14 BEAR WISE

ably because of the problems we’ve been having with mange.
DAIRY BEAR VANDAL IN AREA
Both moms and dads care for the young. The young mature
rapidly with their eyes opening at around nine days. The other “I didn’t see nuttin.” Incriminat-
types of foxes have similar breeding schedules and litter sizes ing evidence confirming our up and
and are born at approximately the same time. The juveniles aboutness was confirmed recently
will disperse in the fall. When they’re 4 to 5 weeks old, the by a local resident – no it wasn’t a
kits will start to venture outside the den and, at 8 to 10 weeks, pile of bear scat that gave us away.
they’re completely weaned. Another side note here: When the It happened when a morning stroll
kits eyes begin to open, they are blue! At 4 – 5 weeks the eyes to fetch the weekly dairy order from
begin to turn the amber/gold color we’ve all seen. Although the milk box was disrupted after dis-
they’re becoming more independent, the kits will stay with covering the box turned on its side
their mother until fall arrives. Believe it or not, they will reach and the contents vandalized.
sexual maturity at 10 months of age.
Two one-gallon containers of milk
Foxes are notorious for their hunting style – the pouncing, were drained through teeth puncture
stalking and chasing behavior that we all love to see, given the holes in the plastic jugs. [Author’s
chance. To watch a Red fox stop, leap high in the air, pounce, note: We bears have a difficult time
and come up with prey is pretty amazing. I routinely see this unscrewing container caps with our
behavior in the young that I am rehabilitating. They practice, paws, so we bite through whatever
starting at a very young age, even before they are steady on we can’t uncap.]
their feet! Perhaps you’ve seen it in the videos I have shared on
the Larkspur Wildlife page on Facebook? Also missing was a pound of butter, including the individual
paper wrappers. Hey, better to just eat the paper with the butter
Unfortunately, foxes can carry some serious and sometimes than to litter, right? It all comes out in the end - so to speak.
fatal diseases. Diseases of the more serious variety include Curiously, a plastic bottle of orange juice, also with teeth punc-
mange, which can be transmitted to your own domestic canine ture marks was left nearly full.
companion. Diseases of the fatal variety includes rabies which
is not something any of us want to see first-hand! This is not the first time an unlocked dairy/milk box has been
raided by one of us local bears. Last year, this same resident
reported the theft of two gallons of milk, a dozen eggs and two
pounds of butter, all scarfed down in one sitting. The bear didn’t
get far before throwing the concoction back up in a gooey pile
about 10 feet down the driveway before sauntering off.

Beer Bear Boozer: In a related story, a few years ago, Wash-
ington State Department of Fish and Wildlife agents found my
cousin Benny, a black bear from the town of Olympia, passed
out on a lawn near Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
From clues left at the scene, the agents learned that Benny bear
had passed out in a drunken stupor from drinking too much
beer. Dozens of empty beer cans – at least 36 – were found scat-
If you find a young fox in the wild, before “kidnapping” him, tered about, full of the bear’s claw marks and tooth holes.
please be sure to watch from a distance to see if one or more
of the parents is around. If they are truly abandoned, they will
shriek, cry and howl for their parents. Foxes are also notorious
flea-carriers so a word of caution before you pick one up!

Please look on https://ahnow.org/#/ for the rehabilitator near-
est to your Colorado location for help.

If you aren’t with us already, please feel free to join the Lark-
spur Wildlife page on Facebo
The bruin went on a binge drinking spree when he found camp-
Happy Mother’s Day! ers’ unlatched coolers full of beer, puncturing the cans and

Conttinued on page 16
Perry Park Sentinel May 2018 - Page 15