
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995                   TAG: 9505020140
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY REED
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A REAL BEAR OF A TOOTH TO BE PULLED

Q: The operator of a bear-checking station told me he has to pull a tooth from each bear so the Game and Inland Fisheries people can determine the age of the animal. He also has to look for ear tags and tattoos to identify the animal.

What happens to all those bear teeth, and at what age are animals getting killed? Also, how many have been captured and tagged?

S.K., Roanoke

A: There is no black market in bear-tooth jewelry, if that's what you suspected. The samples are put under a microscope and the layers of enamel are counted, much like tree rings.

The whole story is a number-cruncher's dream: a database is being assembled and will be used to manage the bear population.

The age of bears taken by hunters ranges from 2 years to 20, but most are fairly young. Males get killed earlier than females, probably because they range over a wider area, said game biologist Dennis Martin.

Bears that wander into humans' neighborhoods and catch a game warden's tranquilizer dart in the hip are tagged on the ear and tattooed on the lip with a number, then released into the wild.

These animals - 30 to 120 per year statewide - make up most of the tagged animals. Others are trapped in the woods and tagged.

Anyone who turns in a tag gets a $50 reward, and the information learned about the bear's movements is added to the database.

Virginia's Piedmont region has excellent bear habitat but not many bears. There's no policy yet from the state board that oversees these matters but, just maybe, captured bears will be released more often someplace other than the mountains.

Bears, apparently, are subject to a lot of management.

And we thought black bears were our wildest form of wildlife.

Cadet costs

Q: How much does it cost the Virginia taxpayer to send each VMI student to school for a year? How many commissions are given by U.S. military forces to VMI grads each year?

W.J.G., Roanoke

A: Virginia Military Institute puts the cost to state taxpayers at $6,136 per year. That figure includes financial aid and the unique military appropriation of $1,468 for uniforms, obstacle courses and other soldierly items.

The figure doesn't mean much unless it's compared with costs at similar schools - of which there are none, of course. But several colleges are similar in size or prominence.

So here's a completely arbitrary comparison: University of Virginia, $5,177, and Virginia Tech, $4,064, according to the State Council on Higher Education. Tech and UVa, though, calculate their figures differently: UVa, $6,600; Tech, $5,181.

Also: Longwood, $3,159; Clinch Valley, $3,996; and Radford (9,000 students), $2,898, according to the state council.

As for commissions, about 40 percent of the graduates in an average VMI class of 225 are taken to be officers in the armed forces. Not every student wants a commission, and the services can take only enough to fill available slots.

Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.

by CNB