Bears, bobcats and badgers: Ohio’s wild side is quietly rebounding

Within the past year: a black bear was hit by a truck in Richland County.

There have been bobcats and an American badger caught on trailcams in Ashland County.

Reports of sandhill cranes, fishers, river otters and trumpeter swans have popped up across Knox and Delaware counties.

But there’s a paradox — rare wildlife is returning to Ohio, even though more land has been developed for housing, roads and general suburban sprawl. 

Despite a human population that has increased from around 4.7 million in 1920 to more than 11.8 million today, according to Ohio.gov and the 2020 Census, exotic-for-Ohio animals are thriving. 

Why is wildlife flourishing despite the odds?

One, people exist outside far less than they used to, especially in rural and semi-rural Ohio.

Two, animals are adapting to the encroaching “new nature” to make their homes sustainable.

And three, conservation and hunting changes over the past several decades have fueled growth.  

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1. Human presence vs. human pressure

There may be a lot more people in north and central Ohio than there were a century ago, but for the creatures of nature, they wouldn’t know it. Let’s break down those factors. 

Comparing today with the period from 1950–1980, there are fewer people hunting, trapping and fishing regularly. 

With the onslaught of screens, along with sports and school work, kids are not roaming woods, creeks and fields like before. Adults are less likely to be commuting, killing time or finding joy strolling along farm edges, fence lines and streams. 

There was an explosion of new hikers during the COVID-19 pandemic, but when you look at data from sources like AllTrails, they were not going off-trail. Also, the hikes were mostly taking place at established and popular nature areas like Mohican State Park and metroparks. 

Land can be “developed,” but remain functionally quite quiet. For example, a subdivision or new build that trends towards fenced yards and compacted neighborhood spaces limits human-nature interactions.

Think of the endless indoor entertainment options like smartphones, addictive apps, streaming and video games – how can the woods compete with those?

Cars have increasingly become the major mode of transport, even over short distances, instead of walking. Vehicles are parked in garages, further sealing our activities inside.  

There also may be a correlation with stricter firearm laws that could have resulted in less daily nature disturbances. 

People have become generally less tolerant of bad weather. You used to have no choice to be out in it, you were prepared on the gear and mental-health side.

Now we’re seeing more shelter-in-place behavior when any weather alert comes across the smartphone screen. 

2. Ecosystem fragmentation doesn’t always result in habitat hostility

Ohio species are adapting to the edges just as well as they have traditionally done in deep wilderness. Animals don’t care if there’s a giant cell tower beside the river.

If the water is clean, food abundant and no French fur traders around, it’s a perfect spot.

Bobcats thrive in brushy edges, creek corridors and abandoned fields, which are plentiful in central Ohio. 

Badgers, coyotes and foxes exploit agricultural mosaics like the Fantastic Mr. Fox did. It’s easy to go steal some corn and a couple of chickens when you can escape back to your den in the adjacent woods. 

We often think of bears needing some giant patch of deep woods in which to thrive. But the male black bear can roam up to 40 miles in a single day of travel, and that is achieved through green corridors, not continuous forests. 

“As Ohio’s black bear population is becoming reestablished through the dispersal of bears from nearby states, we expect that most bears in the state are dispersing or transient males,” the Ohio Division of Wildlife wrote on its Facebook page.

“Adult female bears show strong home-range fidelity, meaning once they establish a range, they tend to stay there.”

Connectivity is often what’s most important. Otters care about water quality, linked streams and pathways. What matters more than acreage is a lack of persecution and having predictable food sources.

Further, the newly arriving species are better at avoiding us than ever. Wildlife today moves at dusk, dawn and in the night.

Creatures rely on GPS-invisible corridors (creeks, ditches, rail lines) and learn human patterns quickly. All that contributes to them being able to pass through your backyard without being noticed. 

Obviously, if there are more bobcats around, humans will start seeing them more, along with evidence backed by trailcams and cell phones in everyone’s pockets. But the population has been growing for over a decade. 

3. Preservation and hunting changes

There are now more protected lands, precise hunting seasons and fewer poachers than ever before in Ohio. Endangered species like the bald eagle or the wolves out west have been protected long enough to establish breeding populations.

In central Ohio, the reproduction threshold varies for each new rare species that is emerging. The bobcat is established back in Ohio now — they don’t need pristine wilderness, just tolerance.

The badger is a long way away from rooting itself in our area. 

Agriculture has also evolved to make the critter’s life easier and more predictable. Larger fields provide more rodents, which bring in the predators. Tile, drainage improvements and man-made reservoirs have created predictable and permanent waterways necessary for habitat and growth. 

A quote credited to director Agnieszka Holland from the film Mr. Jones sums it up: “We didn’t leave the land. We withdrew from it. And nature filled the quiet.”