Why you may see more black bears this summer
Summer is one of the busiest seasons for black bears. Here's why they are on the move, where you're most likely to encounter one, and how to stay safe.
As spring officially gives way to summer, black bear sightings spike across the United States. This is because the bruins have awoken from hibernation and several months in repose have left them with a bad case of the munchies.
“During hibernation, black bears are essentially in torpor or asleep for three to four months,” says Kari Kingery, wildlife program manager for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, of which she is also a member. “But then they wake up, and their energy reserves are highly depleted, so they're very hungry.”
The caloric deficit incurred by hibernation is so deep, it takes most bears until mid-July before they can get back to their base weight and start building back energy stores for the next winter, says Kingery.
In the meantime, they use easily available sources of human food to build their supply back up. “We have bird feeders. We have garbage cans that are waiting to be picked up on Tuesday morning. There are cat foods and dog foods on porches,” says Kingery.
But free food isn’t the only thing causing black bears to move around this time of year.
“Bears are mating right now. In fact, just this week, some landowners nearby have caught some footage of… interactions happening,” says Kingery. “They're moving around, especially those males moving from female to female, in that kind of search mode. So, they are covering a bit more ground.”
Why we’re seeing American black bears more often
There are three species of bear in the United States, but American black bears are by far the most common. With a range that extends from the Arctic Circle to central Mexico, black bears can be found across a range of habitats, most notably forests and scrublands but also swamps. Today, there are more than 300,000 black bears in the U.S. alone.
“The reason we talk about black bears so much, the reason people see them so often, the reason that they are such a big part of North American life, is because of the conservation work that’s been done to bring them back,” says Rae Wynn-Grant, a National Geographic Explorer and co-host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild.
Just as recently as the year 1900, unregulated hunting and massive deforestation had eradicated black bears from 55 percent of their historic range. But then, in 1937, Congress passed the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, which re-directed an existing tax on firearms and ammunition to instead benefit species restoration. It would take another 20 years before any of that money was used to benefit black bear science and conservation, but the gains since then have been huge—black bear populations have rebounded in around 60 percent of their historic range.
But even with all of that conservation success, people are seeing more black bears than ever before thanks to a relatively recent technological advance.
“We have all these Ring cameras and home security doorbells where you can look at your phone every second and know if there’s a bear walking through your yard,” says Wynn-Grant, who is also a wildlife ecologist who has studied black bears for the last 15 years. “Whereas just a few years ago, if it happened and you weren’t home or weren’t looking, you would have no idea there was a bear there.”
Though black bears can reach sizes exceeding 600 pounds, they tend to be very quiet creatures. Without 24/7, motion-activated cameras, many people would never even know the bruins stopped by for a visit.
What to do if you see a black bear
First, remain calm.
“There’s a huge difference between a bear sighting and a bear conflict,” says Wynn-Grant. “There’s also a big difference between a bear being aggressive and a bear attack, because bears don’t want to fight.”
In general, black bears don’t view humans as food, nor do they want to spend any more energy than they have to. When a black bear is displaying aggression—stomping its feet, clacking its jaws, or even making short, fast charges in the direction of a human—they are usually trying to scare a person away, not hurt them.
“I’m going to go on record as saying the average bear will go its entire life without getting into a fight,” says Wynn-Grant.
The best way to mitigate black bear conflict is to put distance between yourself and the bruin. However, don’t just turn and run, which might make you look like prey. Rather, make yourself appear large by waving your hands and calling out to the bear, all while backing away steadily.
(Want to learn more about how to stay safe around grizzlies, bison, and other wild animals?)
If a bear encounter progresses past this point, though, both Wynn-Grant and Kingery recommend bear spray.
“Bear spray is best-deployed before the bear is running at you,” says Wynn-Grant.
Putting cloud of pepper-spray between you and the bear means the animal has to breathe it in before it can get to you.
“As a bear is running towards you, it's really like puffing and sucking air in through its nostrils and the capsaicin is hitting that incredibly sensitive olfactory system,” says Kingery.
As for preventing conflict with black bears at home, cleaning your backyard grill after cooking and using bear-proof garbage containers can go a long way. But Wynn-Grant does also have some bad news.
“I really bum a lot of people out by saying, ‘I know you really love your bird feeder because it attracts some really cool birds, but it is also a calorie heaven for black bears,’” she says.
