Southern Illinois Bear
Friday, September 5, 2008
 Southern Illinois Bear
Southern Illinois Outdoors
Rasputin
 An Article in the Gazette Democrat (Union County Illinois) indicated that two hikers spotted a black bear in union county. They were apparently hiking in the Kaolin Pits area looking for an old cemetery. They indicated they smelled something musky and initially thought it was a skunk and continued on . When they saw the animal they mistook it for a dog initially. They walked to within 30 feet of the animal before they realized what it was.
With all of the sightings in South East Missouri I knew it would just be a matter of time before they found their way across the river. just didn’t think it would be this soon.
ckilman5
That was me and my cousin that seen the bear.When your fourty years old and youve never seen a bear out side of the zoo its hard four your brain to believe what your eyes are telling it its seeing. I really thought it was a dog but why is it so tall, I told myself.
We were hiking looking for the old cemetary at kaolin pits, thats in between Anna and Cobden on Kaolin rd.. We found the cemetary about a half mile up the trail.The trail goes up the old Iron Mountain Ridge, after checking out old headstones we continued on for about another half mile. We smelled a strong odor before we seen it, I thought it was a skunk my cousin said no I dont think so. When we seen it up ahead in the trail we wernt sure what it was at first. I put my arm out to stop my cousin from walking any farther and we kept trying to figure out what it was. It was standing so still, my cousin said is that a cut off tree that someone did a cool bear carving on and started to walk towards it and i stopped her and said no something aint right.. I said no I think its a big dog, but it still didnt make sense to me, it was so still. at that time all we could make out was the black image with two small ears. I looked down to find a big ass stick and here it come . It charged us, my cousin took off running saying run its a bear, I started hollering as loud as I could and clapping my hands together which is pretty loud early in the morning in the woods. When my cousin seen I wasnt running she stopped and slowly walked towards me. It got pretty (I’m an idiot for swearing)(I’m an idiot for swearing)(I’m an idiot for swearing)(I’m an idiot for swearing) close to us about 15 feet before it stopped and ran back to where it was originally turned sideways in the trail looked at us and took off into the woods. My cousin was still hollering at me to run. We were so scared that as we were running we made a video on our phone saying what happened, for our family just in case.we knew that bears can track you. We ran all the way to the car and didnt feel safe till we shut the doors.
We wanted to warn people for there safety, Kaolin pits is a popular fishing,swimming and hiking area in southern Illinois. I called the local newspaper and forest ranger to post a sign at Kaolin Pits “BEAR IN AREA” but everyone I talked to seemed to be in disbelief. Nothing was posted, an article was posted in the local paper that we were thankful for.
Neponset Bear Captured; May Be First Ever Caught In Illinois
Wednesday, Feb 04, 2009
Neponset Bear Captured; May Be First Ever Caught In Illinois
Star Courier
Neponset — The seven-month saga of Bureau County’s black bear came to an end, Tuesday, when authorities tranquilized the animal after it was found sleeping in a drainage ditch east of Neponset.
The sleeping bear was spotted about three weeks ago by Lee Bennett who was riding a four-wheeler on a farm owned by his brother, Robert, east of Neponset, where it had been spotted in late December. The Bennett’s notified authorities who went to work figuring out how best to handle the bruin.
According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, a wildlife expert from the Quad Cities was called in Tuesday to tranquilize the male bear which was estimated to weigh approximately 200 pounds.
The animal was reportedly in a state of semi hibernation, according to an IDNR statement released Wednesday, which explains why it hadn’t moved from wher Bennett spotted it three weeks ago.
Photo Courtesy Of Cheryl Balensiefen. Â Cheryl Balensiefen photographed this black bear southwest of Buda in Bureau County. The bear has been spotted numerous times since it was first sighted last June near Neponset.
The bear was transported to a USDA-licensed wildlife rehabilitation center in southern Illinois that is permitted to possess bears. The origin of the bear is unknown, but it is suspected to have been in human care prior to its release or escape.
The bear was first sighted during the last week in June three times in the Sheffield area. Then, in early September, Ron Miller, of Neponset, spotted the bear along Kentville Road. At the time, it was apparently using standing corn as cover.
Durng a mild spell in late December, cousins Tim and Matt Bennett captured some of the first pictures of the elusive animal as it roamed through a field on the Robert Bennett farm east of Neponset. By that time, several people in the Sheffield, Neponset and Buda reported seeing the bear and indicated that it may have an injured paw.
The Bureau County Sheriff’s Office took an active interest in finding the bear, for the protection of the public, and the bear, itself, and asked anyone seeing the animal to avoid contact and call them so it could be safely removed from the area.
Once they knew where the bear was hibernating, IDNR Conservation Police consulted with federal, state and county wildlife and law enforcement agencies to formulate a plan of response to the bear’s presence. After reviewing several options, officials decided it was best to take the bear alive and place it in an approved facility. Upon arrival at the southern Illinois wildlife center, the bear was reported to be in good health and will receive proper food, shelter and veterainarian care. An investigation is underway to determine the bear’s origin.
Conservationists believe this to be the first documented sighting of a black bear in Illinois in more than 40 years and may be the first documented capture of a black bear in state history.
Bears in Illinois? Sighting Means It’s Possible
Monday May 17, 2010
Bears in Illinois? Sighting Means It’s Possible
Springfield – State Journal-Register
Tiskilwa — Officially, there are no Bears loose in Illinois aside from the ones who wear helmets and shoulder pads eight Sundays a year at Soldier Field.
Unofficially, Bureau County Deputy Sheriff Sherry Barto believes she saw two of the wild, fur-covered variety Saturday morning in a field near Tiskilwa, about 50 miles north of Peoria.
People who live in the area reported seeing a mother and cub, and Barto, sure enough, saw what looked like a pair of bears about 10:30 a.m.
The animals were moving into some heavy brush, and she didn’t have a chance to get a photo, she said.
Illinois Conservation Police Sgt. Robert Frazier has heard all kinds of reports about sightings in areas where wild animals shouldn’t be.
“People see mountain lions. They see bears,” Frazier told the (Peoria) Journal Star. “And I’ve always halfway dismissed them. But then we find a mountain lion in Chicago. We find a bear in Bureau County. You can’t dismiss them.”
The mountain lion he referred to was found in Chicago in 2008, and the bear was found last year. It was hibernating in a drainage ditch near Neponset, less than 20 miles from Tiskilwa.
Frazier helped catch that bear, which was sent on to a zoo in Coal Valley in western Illinois.
A mother bear, he warned, could be aggressive.
“I would think her nurturing instinct would be to protect her cub,” Frazier said. “I wouldn’t be traipsing around in the woods looking for it.”
And he wonders, given the proximity to last year’s bear find, whether that bear and these two — if the animals spotted Saturday really were bears — were kept by someone on their property.
“People sometimes take wild animals from the wild,” Frazier said. “They think they’re cute, and then the darn thing gets bigger, does damage to the home, gets out, and it’s not such a good idea.”
Black Bear Resurfaces Again East Of Neponset
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2008
Black Bear Resurfaces Again East Of Neponset
Star Courier
Neponset, Ill. –
Bureau County’s elusive black bear has surfaced once again, and this time someone got pictures.
Sightings of a black bear were first reported in June near Sheffield. Then, on Sept. 5, Ron Miller of rural Neponset saw the bear along Kentville Road.
Last Saturday, as snow cover rapidly melted from rising temperatures and rain fell in the area, the bear was spotted about two miles east of Neponset on the Robert Bennett farm by his brother Lee Bennett, who was taking a ride on his four-wheeler in a field near the house.
After spotting the bear, which had gone to cover in underbrush, Bennett’s nephew Tim Bennett of Kewanee arrived and began to “shadow†the large animal after it became wary of the human presence and left the ravine. Tim, accompanied by his cousin Matt Bennett, shot photos of the animal as it lumbered across a field and across a creek that was swollen from the heavy rain and melting snow.
The black bear which has been reported in the Sheffield and Neponset area was captured on film last Saturday in the photos above, one of several taken by Tim Bennett as he and his cousin, Matt, followed the bear as if traveled across his father Bob Bennett’s farm east of  Neponset.
“We got within 20 yards of the bear,†Tim said. Then it lumbered to an adjacent field.
The sighting on the Bennett farm was about three miles from where it was spotted in September by Miller. In June, the bear was seen in the Mautino State Fish & Wildlife Area, south of Sheffield, on the west edge of Sheffield near the railroad tacks, and near a landscape waste dumpsite on the west side of Sheffield.
Bennett said he has heard of several other sightings in the area including one recently by a trucker near the Macon Township maintenance shed on Route 40 south of Buda.
In September the Bureau County Sheriff’s Office said it would like any sightings of the black bear to be reported. Ultimately, authorities would like to tranquilize the bear and relocate it to a more suitable habitat.
Black Bear And Cub Spotted Near Tiskilwa
Sunday, May 16, 2011
Black Bear And Cub Spotted Near Tiskilwa
Peoria Journal Star
For at least the second time in as many years, a black bear has made an appearance in Bureau County – this time with a young one in tow.
The Bureau County Sheriff’s Department took a call about 10:30 a.m. Saturday from residents who reported spotting two bears. Deputy Sheriff Sherry Barto went to the location of the sighting, in a field near Tiskilwa, and saw what she believed to be a black bear and her cub moving into brush. She was not able to photograph the creatures.
In February 2009, a black bear was found hibernating in a drainage ditch near Neponset, roughly in the same area of the county. That bear was tranquilized and taken to a Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley.
That animal had been spotted and photographed repeatedly in the county since the previous June. It was the first documented black bear found in the wild in Illinois in more than four decades.
Illinois Conservation Police Officer Sgt. Robert Frazier, who help capture the black bear in Neponset, was more than a little surprised to hear of another bear sighting in Bureau County. But given that the sighting was confirmed by a sheriff’s deputy, and the location was so near where the bear was captured last year, he’s taking it seriously.
“We get these reports all the time. People see mountain lions. They see bears,” Frazier said. “And I’ve always halfway dismissed them. But then we find a mountain lion in Chicago. We find a bear in Bureau County. You can’t dismiss them.”
This is a potentially more serious situation than the lone bear that would have occasional sightings from residents for about eight months before being found asleep, Frazier said.
“If it’s a female and it’s got a baby, it’s possibly going to be more aggressive,” he said. “I would think her nurturing instinct would be to protect her cub. I wouldn’t be traipsing around in the woods looking for it.”
He also cautioned people to keep a healthy distance from the animals if people do encounter it and call the police immediately. At that point, if they can get a photo from a safe distance, that would help the Conservation Police determine the cub’s age, he said. They might try to approach an older cub differently than a newborn.
Neponset and Tiskilwa are about 18 miles apart. The proximity makes Frazier wonder whether the three bears weren’t kept on someone’s property.
“People sometimes take wild animals from the wild,” he said. “They think they’re cute, and then the darn thing gets bigger, does damage to the home, gets out, and it’s not such a good idea.
“If there is indeed a bear and a cub, the big question I have is, how did they get there?”
Illinois has no law on the books protecting bears because they’re generally not found anywhere in the state. That means, legally, the bears could be hunted as long as the hunter had the property owner’s permission and was in compliance with firearms laws.
But there are laws against keeping certain wild animals.
