BEAR SIGHTNINGS ARE EXPECTED TO BE UP
Black bears have been on the move in North Carolina’s mountains early this spring for the second straight winter, state wildlife officials say.
While mama bears with cubs were still in their dens earlier this spring, yearling males and cub-less females were already wandering. Some urban bears, with food plentiful, may not have been in hibernation at all
“We’ve seen this pattern for two years in a row,” said Mike Carraway, mountain regional supervisor for the state Wildlife Resources Commission. “Part of it may be the warm weather, and it may be that food is available around town year-round, but yes, we’re seeing bear activity.”
January and February were both about 7 degrees above normal in the Hendersonville-Asheville area. Last winter, December and March were unusually warm.
The NC Wildlife Commission has fielded 14 calls since December of bears nosing through garbage cans and strolling across lawns this spring,
Asheville’s Citizen-Times reported. One bear was reported getting under porches. News 13 reported that a bear attacked a pet dog.
But calls about sightings aren’t necessarily complaints. As bear numbers grew from a low of about 2,000 statewide in 1980 to at least 20,000 now, most people have learned to live with them
Hendersonville and Asheville residents often see bears. The mountains’ towns are the focus of a five-year study of urban bears that pass through or live in and around the town.
And most of us remember the bear and cub that showed up in a persimmon tree near Hendersonville High School a few years ago.
Residents have reason to be wary around animals that can reach 500 pounds, sport inch-long claws and sprint at 35 mph, but they’re also mostly tolerant of them. Because no hunting is allowed, the city serves as a bear sanctuary
Bear numbers began growing in the 1970s, when the state created sanctuaries, mostly within national forests, where bears could not be hunted and their young could disperse
More than half of North Carolina’s bears live in the coastal plain, where wildlife refuges and cropland produce males weighing more than 800 pounds.
But bear range is creeping closer to cities from the state’s western and eastern ends. Breeding bears already live within two counties of Mecklenburg.
To stay safe, experts hope people elsewhere will follow Asheville’s cues: Take caution among bears, especially mamas with cubs, and keep out of reach the trash cans and bird feeders that lure bears toward home.
How much trouble bears get into has a lot to do with how the acorn crop does. In good years, the animals can gorge in a single area. When the crop is poor, they wander and collisions with cars go up.
“This year is fair, as most years are, fair and spotty,” Carraway said.
