The Jackson Citizen Patriot has an update on the black bear spotted Wednesday on a Manchester-area farm.  Excerpts and link:

A black bear first spotted two weeks ago in Jackon County’s Henrietta Township was foraging on a Manchester farm early Wednesday morning.

“Migrant workers in a potato field saw the bear at the edge of a field eating potatoes,” Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Mary Dettloff said.

The bear moved east through Waterloo State Recreation Area in the last week and was reported near Chelsea, then 10 miles south of Chelsea, Dettloff said.

Wildlife employees set a live trap near where the bear was initially discovered in the backyard of a Jordan Road home. The bear visited the site but was not captured.

Dettloff said that the trap likely will be moved to the Manchester area this weekend, while another trap will remain near the DNR field office on Seymour Road. The bear apparently rummaged through a trash receptacle at the field office, Dettloff said.

If the bear is caught, biologists will tranquilize it, take hair and tooth samples and measurements, tag it and place a radio collar around its neck. It will then be released in an undetermined location.

Scientists could then track its movements to learn more about its habits. Bears increasingly are ranging farther south to where they had lived before pioneers settled.

A black bear was photographed two summers ago in Hillsdale County. Authorities recently killed a bear that was struck by a vehicle and then climbed a tree in Battle Creek.

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/08/black_bear_spotted_near_chelse.html

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