Black bear captured in Johnson County; wildlife officer says people ‘should not be surprised’

3 year-old bear captured in Keaton area by KDFW officer using ‘honey buns’

Friday morning in the Keaton area, a landowner reported a black bear had been captured on his property.

Jayson Plaxico, wildlife biologist with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources had placed a live container earlier on the property in order to capture and contain the bear.

The bear, an American Black Bear, weighing 226 pounds, and approximately three years old, was lured into the container using Honey Buns. In fact, the reason the bear was reported, it had gotten into some stands of honeybees and had robbed the hive.

Plaxico offers some useful tips related to living with black bears in Kentucky and Johnson County.

• Black bears are the least aggressive 

• Once you see females with cubs, bears are there to stay. The average cubs per female in Kentucky is 2-3.

• In Kentucky bears breed in June and July.

• Our number one complaint associated with bears is garbage: 72 percent of bear related calls in 2015 were due to bears in garbage. Strong wood or metal containers with lids that latches will help. If you do not have a bear-proof container, wait until the morning of garbage pickup to put your garbage out.

• If a bear gets into your garbage, scraps or pet food, you can try scaring the bear away with your car remote, making loud noises, etc. Another option is to simply just let the bear leave on its own, it will move on. Bears do not hang around not getting some type of reward.

• If you have beehives, an electric fence will do the trick. Check it often to make sure it is working.

“Trapping a bear is not our first option when other time-proven recommendations work”, said Plaxico. Over the years, we have caught bears and relocated them as far as 50-60 miles away. Trapping isn’t always successful even when we try, but when you remove whatever attracted the bear to begin with, that works about every time.

Plaxico said “No one should be surprised to see a bear in Eastern Kentucky any longer”. 

For more information on living with bears you can visit the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife at http://fw.ky.gov/Wildlife/Pages/Black-Bears.aspx.
If you experience damage caused by a bear, you can call the 24-hr. dispatch at 1-800-252-5378 to report it.

By Nancy Daniels
Paintsville Herald