BOOK CLIFFS, Utah — State wildlife biologists visited the den of a female black bear last week to check her health and see whether she had given birth to cubs this season.
FOX 13’s Madi Baggett rode five hours by car, traveled a few miles on ATVs, and hiked a half-mile to reach the den and watch the work up close.
“We’ll tranquilize the sow, pull her out, check her health condition, and see if she has cubs,” said Shay Farnsworth, a predator specialist for the northeast region of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. He said the steps they take are meant to keep both the bears and the scientists safe.
Farnsworth said the surveys help wildlife managers judge habitat quality and teach the public about how bears live. “If we have good habitat for bears, we’re going to have good habitat for deer,” he said.
The bear the biologists checked is about 3 to 4 years old. She was fitted with a tag last spring and, so far, has not produced cubs this winter.
Clint Sampson, a bear expert with the Division of Wildlife Resources, said black bears usually breed in mid‑June, give birth in late January or early February, and keep their cubs through the summer and fall until the next spring. He said mother bears keep their cubs for about a year and then push them away so the mother can breed again.
Sampson also said food plays a big role in bear health and how well they reproduce.
Bears in the Book Cliffs eat oak brush acorns, pine nuts, and berries to gain fat before hibernation. “If they have a good pinyon crop, good acorn crop, they will be extremely fat — just butter balls going into the den,” he said.
Both biologists said the overall bear population in the Book Cliffs appears healthy, though exact numbers are hard to estimate. The surveys are done every year, and officials hope the bear will have at least one cub next season.
