Bear Damage Payments

All hunters who pursue bear are required to buy bear damage stamps (Class DS). Funds derived from stamp sales are deposited in a special bear damage account to reimburse property owners for real and personal property damage caused by bears.

The number of bear damage claims decreased 23% from 181 in 2003 to 140 in 2004 (Table 5). Total payments of $69,694 were 39% lower than the $112,843 paid out in 2003. Claims were reported in 28 counties in 2003 and 27 counties in 2004.

There were 47 claims for bees (compared to 59 in 2003), 55 for livestock (40 in 2003), 18 for corn (39 in 2003), and 20 (43 in 2003) miscellaneous claims (tents, coolers, automobiles, storm doors, windows, dogs, all terrain vehicle seats, storage buildings, etc.).

Greenbrier County had the greatest dollar amount in compensations $12,300, which was mostly ($9,042) in corn damage. Randolph County with $12,282 was second in reimbursements for bee, livestock, corn and miscellaneous damage. The five counties with the most claims were Randolph (34), Greenbrier (22), Pocahontas (15), Pendleton (15), and Nicholas (7).

Written by Christopher W. Ryan

Click On Links Below For PDF Versions of Tables 5.

Table 5. Black bear damage claims paid and payments by county, 2000-2004.
(PDF format, 7.85KB)

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