NINA – A black bear that raided some beehives in a wooded area here, reportedly doing thousands of dollars in damages, was still lurking in the area as of Monday afternoon, said the state’s foremost bear expert.

Biologist Maria Davidson, Large Carnivore Program manager for the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department, said the adult bruin might be tough to catch if an eyewitness account is correct.

“Someone said they saw an ear tag (on the bear), and if that’s true, it means it’s been trapped before and probably won’t go into a culvert trap,” Davidson said.

Instead of the big, cumbersome barrel-shaped traps, foot-snares have been set in the area, a densely wooded piece of property behind Guidry’s Catfish Inc.

“I’ll probably wind up losing part of my crop in the spring and summer of next year because of this,” beekeeper Paul “Duck” Marckese told reporters.

“It’s going to take a while to bounce the bees back from this,” he said.

There were no other reports of bear depredation between here and the animals’ usual habitat in the lower Atchafalaya Basin, Davidson said. But that’s not unusual, she added.

“You might see a black bear anywhere in Louisiana right now,” she said.

The bears are out foraging, packing on fat for the winter, she said.

The Nina community is near Henderson.