Ivy Talk: Virginia’s Black Bears

David Kocka

David Kocka, a District Wildlife Biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources for the past 32 years, will be giving a talk on Virginia’s black bears, with an emphasis on the DWR’s efforts to understand the infestation and spread of sarcoptic mange in this relatively new host. David's current job responsibilities are the implementation of agency wildlife habitat and population programs over five counties in northwestern Virginia. In this position, he has spent considerable time on deer and black bear management issues. From 2014-2017, he also served as an Adjunct Professor at James Madison University teaching a Wildlife Management course. David holds degrees in Wildlife Management from West Virginia University (B.S.) and the University of Tennessee (M.S.) and has been a certified wildlife biologist since 1992. He has over 35 technical and/or popular publications to date, most recently publishing the book “Bear With Me, My Deer: Tails of a Virginia Wildlife Biologist” in 2017. In 2021 he was invited to become a member of the IUCN North American Bear Expert Team, which was created, in part, to increase capacity of the Bear Specialist Group and thereby increase bear conservation worldwide.

This talk will be offered via Zoom on November 16 at 6:30. It's free, but registration is required here: https://app.donorview.com/oGpnD