Here’s more from the USFWS.
The Louisiana black bear is the state mammal for Louisiana, and it is one of 16 subspecies of the American black bear. While the American black bear can be found across North America, the Louisiana black bear subspecies is only known to occur in Louisiana, East Texas and western Mississippi. Compared to other black bears, the Louisiana black bear’s skull is longer, narrower and flatter, with larger molar teeth.
By 1980, more than 80 percent of the Louisiana black bear’s habitat had been modified or destroyed, and on January 7, 1992, the bear was listed as threatened within its historic range.
On March 10, 2016 we removed this species from the Lists of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife under the Endangered Species Act due to recovery. Recovery was made possible thanks to the active partnerships of many private landowners, state and federal agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations. Since the Louisiana black bear was listed in 1992, voluntary landowner-incentive-based habitat restoration programs and environmental regulations have not only stopped the net loss of forested lands in the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial River Valley, but have resulted in significant habitat gains.
Currently we estimate that between 500 and 750 Louisiana black bears roam the United States, approximately double the population size at the time of listing. We have used techniques such as live trapping, winter den inspections, radio telemetry monitoring, and DNA sampling to determine population size.
View the Frequently Asked Questions
The black bear is a large, bulky animal with long black hair and a short, well-haired tail. Their weight can vary considerably, but males may weigh more than 600 pounds. The face is blunt, the eyes small, and the nose pad broad with large nostrils. The muzzle is a yellowish-brown with a white patch sometimes present on the lower throat and chest. Black bears have five toes with short, curved claws on the front and back feet.
The key habitat requirements are food, water, cover, and denning sites located across large, relatively remote blocks of lands. In the Southeast, remoteness is relative to forest size and the presence of roads, as these features reflect the likelihood of human disturbance. In general, the bigger the forest and the fewer the roads, the better the habitat is for bears.
Louisiana black bears typically live in bottomland hardwood forest communities of the Lower Mississippi River Valley. They den in trees or on the ground from December through April. Other habitat types include brackish and freshwater marshes, salt domes, wooded spoil levees along canals and bayous, and agricultural fields.
High quality cover for bedding, denning, and escape is of great importance as forests become smaller, more fragmented, and as human encroachment and disturbance in bear habitat increases.
Although they are classified as carnivores (meat-eaters), black bears are opportunistic omnivores (eaters of plants and animals) since their diet is largely determined by what food they can find. The most readily available food for black bears tends to be high in carbohydrates and low in fat or protein, although they prefer high fat and high protein foods when they can get it. This often comes in the form of the food and garbage of humans.
Black bears spend a lot of their time foraging for food, and the type of plant food eaten largely depends upon the seasons. In the spring and summer black bears may eat dewberries, blackberries, wild grapes, elderberries, persimmon, pawpaw, pokeweed, devils walking stick, thistle, palmetto, and a variety of fruited vines and soft mast producing shrubs. In the fall they eat acorns, pecans, corn, oats, and wheat, and some bears in southern coastal Louisiana have been documented visiting sugar cane fields. They also may occasionally eat animal remains.
The Louisiana black bear once roamed throughout southern Mississippi, all of Louisiana, and eastern Texas. The historic range included all Texas counties east of and including Cass, Marion, Harrison, Upshur, Rusk, Cherokee, Anderson, Leon, Robertson, Burleson, Washington, Lavaca, Victoria, Refugio, and Arkansas; all of Louisiana, and the southern Mississippi counties south of and including Washington, Humphreys, Holmes, Attala, Neshoba, and Lauderdale.
Currently, most Louisiana black bears live within four areas of Louisiana, including:
Bears may be occasionally encountered in other areas within their range, as male bears sometimes wander long distances from the area of their birth. Bears have been sighted in recent years within many parishes throughout Louisiana, as well as in western and southern Mississippi. Public-access lands that provide the best opportunity of potentially seeing a Louisiana black bear include Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge, Richard K. Yancey Wildlife Management Area, Big Lake Wildlife Management Area, and Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge. Please consult, and adhere to, the respective public-land regulations prior to accessing those sites.
Wolves kill, devour elk on Gardiner school’s football field
By angelamontana
Turkeys Illegally Dumped at Nevada WMA
Magnet Fisherman Discovers Evidence in Double Murder Case
Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report by Brent Beller, IDFG 4.23.24
FWP News: Lake Elmo open for gas motorboat testing May 4 and 18
DON’T LET YER MEAT LOAF!!! by Montana Grant
FWP News: Darting for Research (Bighorn Sheep)
Don’t mess with the bull…
The perfect footage
“Bird Day” celebration scheduled for May 4 at Spring Meadow State Park
By Moosetrack Megan
Seasonal Roads Opening Today on Seeley Lake Ranger District
A long trip home: One steelhead’s journey to the Potlatch River
2024 Spring Mack Days-Week 6 Update
FWP News: FWP announces Mule Deer Citizen Advisory Committee
FWP News: Walleye Spawn Update III, April 19th, 2024
Helena Area Reservoirs Fishing Report 4.22.24
GOPHER GUTS!!! by Montana Grant
PANSY POWER!!! by Montana Grant
YOU MAY BE A CAVEMAN!!! By Montana Grant
Montana Fishing Reports for 4/20/24
By Kamp Cook
Spring Weather Roulette – Listen to last Weeks Show 4/20/24
MT Outdoor Podcast: The Wizard of the Waterways is Back with 2024 Boat Tech!
TURKEY TRADITIONS!!! by Montana Grant
Group grabs bear cubs for photo
Riley's Meats - Butte Wild Game Processing