There's Bears in Them Thar Malls!

Some former residents of the Lansing area are thinking about moving back, and are scouting out homes around Michigan's capital city. But those who have settled in their absence aren't exactly rolling out the welcome wagon.

The Lansing State Journal reports > several sightings of black bears near busy roads and shopping centers during the last week. DNR and law enforcement personel are trying scare the bruins away from the city. I wonder, though, if their blank gun rounds and sirens can overcome the lure of dumpsters and free-roaming housepets.

Their appearance doesn't surprise me. When I lived in the Lansing area (1996-99), I saw bear tracks occasionally in Sleep Hollow State Park, about 20 miles to the north, and in a creek bottom about thirty miles west of Lansing. They were bound to come closer at some point.

I can understand Lansingites being concerned about having the Old Man in a Fur Coat living just beyond their hedgerows. Still, I have to cheer a bit every time I hear something like this. If I still lived there, I'd be tempted to print and distribute yard signs urging "KEEP THE BEARS--BANISH WAL-MART!" A place seems wilder, more vital, when it contains the possibility of running into a large, unpredictable predator. It's easy for environmental advocates to become too focused on those big, charismatic critter that look good on fundraising calendars, but there's no question that some of their charisma rubs off onto every part of the lands they inhabit. And that's good for us, the two leggeds.

People can (and in many places do) manage to coexist with bears, but it takes some adjustment from they way they tend to live in city and suburban areas. It may mean not letting your dog run loose after dark, or not leaving steaks cooking unattended on the gas grill while you mix a pitcher of Cosmopolitans. Or being just a tad more alert while jogging in the county park. In short, life in bear country requires being more aware of your surroundings and of the consequences of your actions. A lot of us could stand to develop those qualities, and for reasons beyond dealing with wildlife. It's said that the tooth of the wolf whittled the legs of the deer. Can the lurking presence of the bear sharpen human brains dulled by an impoverished environment and a surfeit of consumer comforts?

As I noted above, "the authorities" aren't interested in finding out, and are trying to drive the bears northward. But if the bears can run the gauntlet, there are some good opportunities for them in the other direction. Once they get around the city of Landsing, they could make their way to the large state game area near Dansville, where they could hide in acres of forests and swamps. I'm pretty confident Dansville SGA could support a bear or two. If bears became pressed for space there, it would be a fairly short jaunt across a mostly rural area to the Pinckney and Waterloo rec areas, which would give them about 30,000 semi-wild acres to roam. And give my home county a new spark of wildness.

Seldom do I find myself rooting against the police, but I'm afraid in this case I have cheer for the fugitives. When I hear reports like this one out of Lansing, I feel like a desert dweller catching sight of distant storm clouds. They might dissipate or change course before they bring the rain, I know, but the mere sight of them stirs hope for better times to come.