ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) —
An annual advisory about avoiding interactions with wild bears has taken on new meaning after last month’s videotaped incident of a group in Asheville pulling a bear cub out of a tree and posing for pictures before it ran away.
For years, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has been advising the public about the way bear sightings surge in the springtime and how people need to keep their distance so humans and black bears can safely coexist.
The latest advisory, released Monday, May 20, closes with the most basic of information: “never approach or try to take photos with black bears.”
“It often does not end well for people or the bear,” said Colleen Olfenbuttel, a bear expert and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s game mammals and surveys supervisor.
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A version of the advisory, “Why Are There So Many Bear Sightings Right Now?” is released every year. But its release was delayed this year in part because officials were so busy responding to an unplanned teachable moment that caused a flood of international attention.
That happened on April 16, at Berrington Village Apartments on the eastern edge of Asheville, where a group was videotaped as they attempted to pull two baby black bear cubs out of a tree.
The video showed one person excitedly cradling one of the cubs while posing for a picture. That cub, a female, soon ran off. After a state wildlife biologist investigated, the cub was captured and taken to Appalachian Wildlife Refuge in Candler, where it is being rehabilitated before a planned release into the wild this fall. The second cub returned to the woods.
The case sparked a national and international outcry, and inspired petitions from people demanding justice for the bear cubs. State wildlife enforcement officials decided not to press charges. Instead, the commission used it as a chance to educate the public about the need to leave wildlife alone.
“It went international,” said Anna Gurney, public relations manager for the Wildlife Resources Commission. “I was getting calls from Japan. I was getting calls from Germany. It just went viral like we’ve never seen.”
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It gave the commission a chance to educate the public in new ways, but it also delayed the annual advisory about ways humans can safely coexist with black bears.
As the new release points out, the months of April through August are the peak time for calls to the commission’s Wildlife Helpline, (866) 318-2401.
“Bears are emerging from their winter dens during spring and becoming more active,” Olfenbuttel said in the release. “Mother bears have emerged from their den with their cubs, 1-year-old bears are leaving their family group and roaming to find a new home, and, with breeding season just around the corner, male bears are starting to travel extensively searching for mates. Also, bears are hungry after hibernation, so they are all roaming around looking for food.”
Since natural food sources are more limited in the spring than they will be in the summer and fall, bears will actively look for “any abundant food source they can find,” and that includes bird feeders, unsecured trash containers and pet food bowsl, the release states.
It points out that over the past 50 years North Carolina’s bear population has been growing — and so has the amount of land taken up by human habitat.
“People and bears are sharing more of the same lands, which creates increased opportunities for bears to approach people’s homes and property, especially when food sources are left readily available to bears,” the release states.
What worries bear lovers and state officials is that bears can lose their natural wariness of being around people the more often they’re intentionally being fed or finding food sources where people live.
“Bears can become bold when they are purposely fed or grow accustomed to feeding on outdoor pet food, table scraps, garbage and birdseed,” the release states. “This can lead to bears damaging property, entering occupied homes and causing direct threats to human safety.”
The release urges people never to feed bears, to secure food, garbage and recycling, remove bird feeders, clean and store grills and smokers, never leave pet food outdoors, and to alert their neighbors of bear activity — so others can avoid contact, too.
Olfenbuttel said, “It’s imperative for the public to never feed a bear whether intentionally or inadvertently, as it will cause it to become habituated to people and alter its natural behavior.”
A section of the advisory talks about a rise in calls to the Wildlife Helpline from people worried about possibly orphaned cubs.
“People who try to capture or handle a cub are not only risking the cub’s safety, but their own if the mother bear is nearby, as she may try to defend her cubs,” Olfenbuttel said. “Even if you don’t see the mother bear, she could be nearby, and the cubs are waiting for her to return. By trying to capture a bear cub, you may cause it to become orphaned, injured or both.”
The agency advises people that if they see a bear cub alone:
- Do not handle it.
- Do not attempt to catch it.
- Do not remove it.
- Do not feed it.
- Do take note of your location and call the NC Wildlife Helpline (866) 318-2401. If after business hours or on weekends, call a district wildlife biologist to report it.
Falyn Owens, wildlife extension biologist for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, said sections about people who see cubs left alone without their mothers nearby were being emphasized due to what happened in Asheville.
“People have been reporting those situations to us since time immemorial. We always put that information out,” Owens said. “Because of the Asheville incident, we made sure to emphasize that information. That situation is more in the public’s mind right now.”
Owens said there’s a simple rule of thumb for dealing with bears. “We always will advise, if you’re close enough to a bear that it’s changing its behavior in any way because of your presence, then you’re too close.”