There are some differences between black bears and the Chicago Bears, though according to Kaitlin Rogers, an interpretive naturalist with the Indiana Dunes State Park, they are remarkably similar.
Both weigh in at around 300 pounds, Rogers said Tuesday during a program at the park's nature center. Both stand upright at about 6 feet tall and a black bear can outrun a Chicago Bear by about 10 mph.
But it's a black bear that's been lurking around the Michigan City area in recent weeks. They are one of several mammals that used to populate the dunes that have disappeared over time because of loss of habitat and changes in the food supply, Rogers said. Bison; porcupines; fishers, which ate porcupines; mountain lions; and grey wolves all used to populate the dunes, along with black bears.
"It's been 144 years; 1871 was the last black bear sighting in Indiana," she said.
The lone male black bear, which the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has been tracking, made its way to Indiana through Berrien County in southwestern Michigan, through New Carlisle, and west to Michigan City, Rogers said. Black bears are more prevalent in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
"He's very close," she said.
So close, in fact, that Kip Walton, a ranger with the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore who attended the program, saw the bear in his back yard early Sunday morning, he said.
He went in his back yard shortly before 6:30 a.m. to work out and his German shepherd started barking inside the house. He opened the door to see what was going on and the dog ran into the woods that abut his Michigan City-area home.
"She just started barking uncontrollably. I look up and I see this big black shape moving off into the woods," he said, adding he ran into his house to wake up his wife and the bear was gone when they came back out.
The dog, used to an assortment of animals in the woods, spent 10 minutes sniffing around. Walton heard other neighborhood dogs go crazy as the bear made its way through the woods. He contacted Trail Creek police and the DNR.
"They said they saw what they thought were two footprints back there," he said, adding the sighting isn't confirmed because he didn't get a picture and the bear didn't leave hair or scat behind. DNR officers told Walton the bear was probably after the mulberry bush in the woods behind his home.
Black bears aren't typically aggressive, Rogers said, and while they may eat human food if it's left out, and bird seed, they prefer wild food and will easily return to that diet. Black bears don't even rank in the 25 most dangerous animals. Mosquitoes top that list because of the diseases they can carry. Black bear claws are strong for climbing trees but not sharp for holding prey.
"I'm more worried about people hurting the black bear than the black bear hurting people," Rogers said, adding they're only 2 to 3 feet high when on all fours. "They are one of the smallest bears that we have. They're not super-huge and they're not going to attack you."
If the bear feels threatened, it may make a "false charge" at someone, running toward them and stopping short. A bear will usually walk away if someone makes noise to announce their presence, Rogers said, and if the bear attacks, she suggested fighting back by throwing rocks and punches.
"Pretend you're Rocky Balboa," she said. "He'll run away."