On Friday October 11th, Millersville University Environmental Biology Students, Matt Zak and Tristan Conrad, had an opportunity to work with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s black bear research project. Under the supervision of New Jersey’s Black Bear Project Leader, Kelsey Burguss, students got exposed on how to trap, mark and sedate bears. They were also involved in taking important measurements on bears and were informed of the management challenges for black bears in the state of New Jersey. A total of 4 bears were trapped, sedated, processed and released. We also got to help researchers from East Stroudsburg University take blood and tick samples from bears so they could conduct genetic analysis and identify infectious bacteria. This was an amazing experience for the students. We all learned a lot, and are very grateful to Kelsey Burguss and his team for providing us this valuable educational experience.
Refer below for some great pictures of bears as well as Tristan Conrad, Matt Zak and myself in the field.
