DNR affirms denial of permit to Rogers

The state Department of Natural Resources has affirmed its earlier decision to deny a permit to a researcher who gained fame by putting radio collars on black bears in northern Minnesota.

In a decision announced Wednesday, DNR administrator Kent Lokkesmoe backed an administrative law judge who ruled in May that the state agency had the authority to refuse to renew Lynn Rogers' permit.

For 14 years, Rogers had hand-fed wild black bears in order to collar them with satellite tracking devices.

He would post live Internet video feeds from their dens. He drew a global audience and more than 140,000 Facebook followers who got to know bears such as Lily and Hope through his live feeds.

But Wednesday, the DNR cited concerns about public safety, conduct that it considered unprofessional, and questions about the validity of Rogers' research, including his failure to publish enough peer-reviewed research.

Lokkesmoe's order says Rogers can continue to feed and interact with bears and conduct education, but he can't radio-collar them without a permit.

Rogers can't place Web cameras in bear dens either, according to the DNR.

He had over the years engendered criticism by wildlife officials and residents of the area around Ely, where he's conducted his studies and runs the North American Bear Center.

He not only abused his bears, but they lost their fear of humans after hand-feeding and were biting neighbors, a boy and research participants, the DNR has said in court papers.

Since 2009, the DNR has received 69 complaints from area residents about Rogers' bears, court documents contend.

In 2011, 38 people signed a letter protesting the renewal of Rogers' permit, saying his collared bears posed a risk to children and others.

Last year, a DNR memorandum defended the department's decision to yank Rogers' bear research permit after 14 years and order that he remove all electronic collars from the bears he had been studying.

He says on his website, www.bearstudy.org, that he has written more than a hundred scientific articles on black bear behavior and ecology and "has served as senior author on more peer-reviewed scientific articles on bears than anyone in the world."