Did y’all know that July is peak bear sighting month in the US? I sure didn’t! The Today Show recently had a segment with some alarming, yet in many cases still adorable footage. Like a guy in Colorado who heard honking all night, then went outside to discover a bear sitting on his car horn. If that were me, I would’ve been like, “Yes all right, you own my car now.” So what’s the explanation for the uptick in bear encounters during the seventh month of the year? Well, it’s the bear necessities of life. Namely food and a cool place to park your carcass in soaring temps. That Today clip showed one bear strolling into an air-conditioned office and a second plopping down into a backyard kiddie pool. In this heatwave, I cannot blame the overheated galumphs. Meanwhile a local CBS station had more info on the all-important food angle:
A bear walking through a parking lot in Gatlinburg, Tennessee is not the start of a joke. It is July — America’s peak month for bear encounters.
That means thousands of run-ins with people this month alone, from poolside snack raids in Tennessee to bears spotted in New York City’s Central Park.
Ashley Hobbs, a state bear biologist in North Carolina, says it comes down to one thing.
“It’s all about the food,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs says people leave food lying out — and bears can smell it from 10 miles away.
“They’re like us, you know. It’s easier to run through the McDonald’s than it is to go home and cook a full meal,” Hobbs said.
Wendy Newman of Asheville, North Carolina, had her own close encounter when a bear smelled her cinnamon waffles and started banging on her door.
“Oh! That’s never happened before. I see them in the yard all the time,” Newman said.
Newman said she has come to terms with sharing the space.
“Unfortunately, I’m in theirs. They were here before me. That’s as much their home as it is my home,” Newman said.
Three bears have even been spotted in New York City’s Central Park.
Bear encounters are on the rise across the U.S. as human development sprawls into bear habitat and bears increasingly venture into populated areas in search of food.
Boldly venturing into new territory after following your nose to the scent of ready-made food? Banging on a stranger’s door for homemade cinnamon waffles?? Not for the first time in my life, I’m wondering if I am myself a bear. And whereas I’d immediately cede ownership of a car a bear had laid claim to, the waffles I would not give up so easily. (I’m not even joking.) And speaking of confrontations, should you find yourself face-to-face with a member of the Ursidae family, the prevailing advice is to make yourself big and tall and stand your ground. I call this the Helen Mirren method (iykyk), and it works for both humans and ferocious Pomeranians. Now if you’ll excuse me, my snout has caught a whiff of some roasted garlic dish that must be investigated…
Photos credit: Christina Glebova on Unsplash, Jennifer Kardiak on Pexels
Drought conditions will increase sightings of all wild animals as they look for water and food to survive and from what I’ve read all but five states are currently experiencing drought conditions.. not to mention that humans have encroached upon the habitats for all wild life so they are naturally going to be more visible.
Big and tall and stand your ground is a bit of an oversimplification of bear safety guidance. If you’re in bear territory it would be safer to read up for safety and carry bear spray.
I’ve actually done this–successfully–in my encounter with a mama bear & two cubs. I stopped, put my hands outward above my head (i.e., bigger than the bear) and started backing away, saying in a low voice, I’m leaving, I’m leaving, I’m backing up, I’m backing up. Bear spray’s just going to antagonize a bear. Most encounters are not confrontational, they’re accidental, so no need to make anything worse. Hands over your head & back away.
Yes @beaniebean to my point there is more to it, e.g. determining if bear has noticed you or not, black or grizzly bear, are there cubs, what is bear doing – are they acting aggressive or not, avoid eye contact, and yes speaking is part of it, removing yourself if you can, among many other things that are situational. Including bear spray for worst case scenario.
But if you feel comfortable with “big and tall and stand your ground” (which is what the article said) then you do you!
@Noo: I get it! And you’re absolutely right, I reduced my multiple bear encounters to this one situation. And I have only ever worked in areas with just your basic black bear, never grizzlies or Kodiaks. My understanding with those is hit the ground, curl up in a fetal position one arm around your middle & one around your head, and say your prayers. I’ve never carried bear spray because me being me, in my excitement & fear I’d probably spray myself.
We are seeing bears where I am (in Abq) regularly…one adult and a cub were just returned to the mountains this weekend. But the mountains here are very local so it’s not difficult for them to make it down into neighborhoods. And they don’t come unless they have to. What I dislike is the idea of using bear spray when going into their habitats…I guess it can be necessary but it seems crazy to me to attack animals when you are the intruder.
I live in an urban downtown area in Western NC and see bears frequently. My dog, Dharma, came snout to snout with a huge bear on Saturday night. Her recall was amazing and she ran away from it when I yelled at her.
Wait really? Bears like in Asheville or something? That kind of freaks me out. I am so scared of bears.
Ashevillain here. We have bears everywhere! I’ve even seen them on the periphery of downtown. It’s usually not a problem, but you do have to keep your car doors locked, because they know how to open them when they smell food inside. A friend was unloading his car after a shopping trip, and a bear got inside, and then couldn’t get out. Caused thousands of dollars in damage!
Maybe they have heard that American women prefer them to men.
Ha!
⭐️
Just to defend the bears…. I live in an area that is surrounded by state parks, one on each side, and a national park just past one of them. Just to say, we see bears often.
The advice above about making yourself big, and back away slowly is spot on. I have taken my kids to “bear aware” classes since they were toddlers. They obviously could not make themselves bigger, but they could back away slowly and and tell the bear they are leaving.
Bears are mostly a nuisance, not a threat. We can’t leave our trash outside, the bears seem overly fond of pizza and the delivery guys can no longer ring the bell and leave the pizza on your porch. Doggie doors need to be locked up as cubs have figured them out. Don’t take to long unloading your car from a Costco trip or the bears will grab something right out of the trunk. Don’t leave food in the car overnight, the bears will find it.
Last month, the trash guys forgot our trash can, so the bears discovered it. Neighbors drove by, honked, bear did not care. My husband drove his truck into the trash can, moving it, which was the only thing that made the bear leave.
All of this to just let you know, I find raccoons terrifying, they will attack you to make you leave. The bears, they run off and really are uninterested in you.