Gleason bears all

Not that Gleason, Lynn Gleason gets a multimedia tidal wave of coverage:


Here
and:

Gleason discusses bear project
By J.D. CHARLES, Staff Writer
A local educator who has been honored by the state of West Virginia recently went out in the field with agents of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources on a project that collects information about bears in the Mountain State.

Lynn Gleason was named an Outstanding Educator by Gov. Joe Manchin and representatives of Arch Coal, but it was one of her co-workers who was responsible for her adventure with a family of black bears three weeks ago.

"I am a teacher of fifth graders," Gleason said Tuesday. "A few years ago, I saw a picture of a fellow teacher's husband with a bear cub."

Gleason found out about the project and arranged to go out on one of the tagging expeditions with a television film crew.

"The DNR Bear Project has been in effect since 1999 under the direction of Christopher Ryan. The program is to learn more about bears in several counties. They use this information to modify bear season," she explained. "In the southern counties 428 bears have been handled over the years."

The bears are tranquilized, tagged, weighed and measured. If the bear has been tagged before, that information is collected it receives a new tag.

"During the past season, 204 cubs were observed," Gleason said. "We had to wait at a distance before we could get close to the bears."

Gleason said the mother bear was tranquilized and the team went down a hillside and found the babies in the den, which was hollowed out under a tree stump on a hillside.

Three young cubs were examined, and Gleason has footage of the expedition. One cub literally squealed like a pig.

"That was the female," she said. "It was the loudest. One cub was so young its eyes had not opened. You can guess their age by the length of their fur."

Bears in the coalfields often do not hibernate all winter as bears do in other areas, because there is plenty of food for them she said. Bear cubs are usually born in January.

"It's illegal to keep a wild animal as a pet," Gleason noted, explaining that the animals are cute and cuddly when they are little. "But they don't stay that way."

The mother bear, which was tagged, weighed in at 165 pounds. The bruin woke up none the wiser for the experience, Gleason added, but because of what has been learned conservationists will know more about the state's bear population. Kanawha, Boone, Raleigh and Fayette counties are the study areas.

Gleason pointed out that black bears are not always black in color, some are actually brown, but the breed is native to West Virginia.

Gleason was the special guest speaker this past week for the Lions Club of Logan.