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Louisiana Black Bear - "Recovered"

KEDM Public Radio | By Kelby Ouchley

Published August 22, 2016 at 9:00 AM EDT

A few days ago while driving through the D'Arbonne Swamp north of West Monroe, I was treated with a stunning sight. I caught a glimpse of a large animal ahead on the road shoulder, and my first impression was that it must be a hog. As I got closer it became obvious that it was a bear - shiny black and beautiful in the early morning light. He wheeled and ran down the road bank, across a shallow ditch, and into the D'Arbonne National Wildlife Refuge. Until recent years this encounter would have been nigh on impossible.

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Kelby Ouchley

Kelby was a biologist and manager of National Wildlife Refuges for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 30 years. He has worked with alligators in gulf coast marshes and Canada geese on Hudson Bay tundra. His most recent project was working with his brother Keith of the Louisiana Nature Conservancy on the largest floodplain restoration project in the Mississippi River Basin at the Mollicy Unit of the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge, reconnecting twenty-five square miles of former floodplain forest back to the Ouachita River.

See stories by Kelby Ouchley