Black bear 'covers a lot of ground' raiding South Kingstown bird feeders

Jay Swoboda knows one thing for sure about the black bear that has visited his bird feeders in South Kingstown. It cleans its plate.

"There's not a morsel of seed on the ground when the bear goes through," Swoboda says.

Swoboda doesn't know the gender or exact size of the bear, and he can only guess where it lives, but he knows the hungry bear cleans up every last crumb and leaves a path of bent and broken feeders in its wake.

Using a trail camera, Swoboda captured video of his dining guest at about 3 a.m. last Thursday. The video shows the tilted remains of one feeder and the bear wandering toward Swoboda's house in the Larkin Pond area to check out a hummingbird feeder, possibly for dessert.

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With Swoboda's blessing, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management posted the video to its Facebook page as an alert to Rhode Islanders.

"American black bears are naturally shy animals, but should a back porch birdseed buffet become available, they will gladly invite themselves right over," the DEM said. "Avoid drawing these large mammals into yards by removing bird feeders when bears are active and securing other potential food sources."

On the night the bear appeared on Swoboda's video, it visited at least two other houses in the neighborhood and dined at those feeders, he later learned.

"It was three houses in a row," he said. "This bear covers a lot of ground."

The DEM says Rhode Island has only "a handful of resident bears," but the numbers are likely to increase as bear populations grow in neighboring states like Connecticut and Massachusetts. Young bears are likely to fan out to establish their own territory.

"Historically, Rhode Island was home to bears, but persecution and habitat loss drove them out around the 1800s," the DEM said.

Swoboda lives near the Great Swamp and believes the bear might have found a home there. He thinks it visited earlier this spring and also two years ago, but he didn't get video.

"It's living in the country. It's living in nature. It's all good," he said. "They were here before we were."

A friend from West Virginia told Swoboda he has to put Pine-Sol cleaner scent on his trash barrels to keep bears away.

"They're a rarity and novelty in South Kingstown, but they're an everyday occurrence elsewhere," Swoboda said.

The DEM says Rhode Island residents can report bear sightings to DEM's Division of Law Enforcement at 401-222-3070. It's been relatively quiet for bear reports so far this spring, the DEM says, with sightings reporting in Glocester, Richmond and South Kingstown. The DEM's website offers tips on coexisting with black bears.

A lobsterman, Swoboda enjoys nature and was fascinated to see the bear on his camera. He and his wife, Karen, are fine with having a bear as a neighbor, but they're taking the bird feeders in at night and will stay alert when walking their "granddog."

"It's a beautiful animal. It's majestic," Swoboda said of the bear. "I just wouldn't want to be surprised by it."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: South Kingstown man captures video of 'majestic' bear in back yard