ASHEVILLE - At first, Haw Creek resident Ann McNamara thought she had a raccoon in her crawl space. There was a persistent scratching sound from beneath the floorboards, and every once in a while her dog would stand stock-still and then tremble.

She ordered a couple traps, but it wasn't until McNamara saw a single furry black paw poke out from the latticework around the crawl space that she knew a Hav-a-heart trap wouldn't do the trick. It was about the size of her foot.

A four-legged scientist

It turns out McNamara's downstairs tenant was a yearling black bear participating in the Asheville Urban/Suburban Bears Study — a collaboration between the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and North Carolina State University to learn more about local bears and the ways they interact with humans

The yearling, formally called N184, sports a GPS radio collar that provides valuable data about when and where she moves — and helped scientists confirm that there was indeed a bear under McNamara's porch.

More:Asheville Urban/Suburban Bear Study Phase 2 focuses on human-bear interactions

Researchers like Jennifer Strules, a Ph.D. candidate at NCSU, and WRC biologist Ashley Hobbs take advantage of the winter hibernation season to gather data on their study bears. Since Asheville's mild winters mean local bears don't sleep as deeply as their cousins in colder climes, scientists use anesthetics to ensure the safety of humans and bears alike.

The full workup takes from 25 minutes to an hour. Order one is to swap out the batteries in the GPS radio collars, but it's a valuable opportunity to collect samples for other studies — like hair clippings for stable isotope analysis, which helps researchers determine the content of a bear's diet.

They also take morphometric data like length and weight. N184 was a dainty 130 pounds.

Charming the neighbors

Like many Asheville residents, McNamara is an avid bear-watcher. The novelty 'bear-crossing' sign she hung on a tree in her yard must have looked like a welcome mat for N184.

N184 was first recruited for the study as a cub when her mother and a female littermate lived in the same area of Haw Creek. McNamara and other neighbors fondly remember N184 and her sister climbing a nearby cherry tree to wreak adorable havoc while their mother lounged below and scooped up errant cherries.

As such, it didn't come as too much of a shock to McNamara and her neighbors when the WRC trucks rolled in. They estimate that N184 lived in McNamara's crawl space for about six weeks.

Evicting a well-meaning tenant

But even with a landlord as tolerant as Ann, N184 can't live in a garden apartment forever, Olfenbuttel said. By early March, it was warm enough to safely evict her.

Bears are attracted to fatty, protein-rich human food, which is why it's important to use bear-resistant trash cans where encounters are likely — and while that craving can often be a source of conflict, it's something researchers can use to safely trap bears.

More:Is there an Asheville black bear boom? 6 tips for bear harmony this spring

Researchers stash day-old pastries — "donuts, cake, that kind of thing," Hobbs said — at the end of a "barrel trap" about three feet in diameter to encourage bears to enter. (Don't worry, the bears don't eat the pastries.) The barrel trap is a safe place for the bear to rest as the tranquilizers take effect, which usually takes about 20 minutes, she said. No baked goods were necessary this time, though, since N184 lumbered right into the barrel trap at her den's entrance when researchers began peering at her from the other end of the crawl space.

After her workup, which included receiving a lip tattoo from lead black bear research technician Shelby Shiver, N184 was returned to the barrel trap to reorient.

As soon as she was ready, N184 was free to sidle off into the sunny Haw Creek afternoon — while McNamara hastily shored up the walls to her crawl space. "We simply open up the door and let them go," Hobbs said. "We release them where they're trapped."

"She'll wander off to find another resting place," Olfenbuttel said. "Something dry, protected from the elements, protected from disturbance."

"Asheville is filled with den sites," she added.

Elizabeth Anne Brown is the trending news reporter for the Citizen Times. Reach her at eabrown@citizentimes.com, or follow her on Twitter @eabrown18.

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