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Published May 20, 2008 10:37 pm - The area south of Joplin offers tranquil surroundings replete with wooded hills and homesteads. Oh, and bears too. Two bears sighted in area south of Joplin By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com The area south of Joplin offers tranquil surroundings replete with wooded hills and homesteads. Oh, and bears too. Yes, at least two black bears have been regularly sighted and photographed in that area in recent weeks, according to area residents and the Missouri Department of Conservation. The two are likely part of a resurgence in Missouri’s bear population. Conservation officials are strenuously urging residents not to feed the animals. “We think we have at least a couple of bears wandering around in that area,” said James Dixon, a wildlife damage biologist with the department. “They act as if they are being fed by local people. I don’t know that they are, but they are behaving like they are.” Dixon said the two probably are related because bears are habitually solitary animals and two normally would not be seen in the same area unless they were related, although he acknowledged that he could not confirm it. He said he could not determine the sex of either bear based on the photographs he received. Conservation officials are investigating whether the bears hail from the area or have migrated from somewhere else, such as Northwest Arkansas. Dixon said he started receiving reports of the bear sightings a few weeks ago. He said those reports are now coming in almost daily. The two bears have been seen most regularly around parts of Greenwich Lane, a private road south of Joplin. Lynn Mahan, 5138 Greenwich Lane, said she has not yet seen either of the bears. But she has received a letter from a neighbor containing a photograph of one of the bears in the couple’s back yard and alerting the neighborhood to the animals’ presence. The bear, according to a copy of the letter, climbed into the couple’s fenced yard, played on a swing set and with the family dog’s toys, and looked around the grill before leaving. At the end of Greenwich Lane, where the road dead-ends, is the home of Jeanine Gilbert, where both bears have been sighted separately by Gilbert or by construction crews that are building an outbuilding behind the home. Royce Cantrell, of Galena, Kan.-based Cantrell Building Services, has been working at the Gilbert home and said he saw one of the bears less than two weeks ago. He said another member of his crew has seen the other bear. Cantrell said the bear wandered onto the property while the crew was working. It appeared healthy, he said, and lingered in the area for a little while before leaving. It was not aggressive. 
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