Due to a dry winter in the western United States, black bears are increasingly venturing into populated areas in search of food, wandering near schools, markets and residential neighborhoods, and coming into contact with people more often. Reuters reports, according to UNN.
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Bears wandered near a school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, climbed a tree near a farmers market in Denver, and otherwise frightened people across the country after the driest winter on record destroyed the plants, grasses, berries and nuts that make up about 90% of their diet
The animals’ incredible sense of smell draws them to human food. This is leading to record bear mortality in some states, as hundreds of animals are euthanized, hit by cars, killed by gunfire and even electrocuted while interacting with people.
As the drying of the West is expected to continue, experts fear that bears may become accustomed to human food and even stop hibernating if winters become too warm and wild food becomes too scarce.
It is like a test for bears unlike any they have ever faced, and a test for people
As a result of urbanization, people have moved into areas where bears once foraged for food. At the same time, bear populations have rebounded in states such as Nevada, where they were nearly wiped out more than a century ago.
According to state authorities, black bears are now the healthiest of the world’s eight bear species: Colorado alone is home to between 17,000 and 20,000 of them.
This state is suffering the most from encounters with bears, as its population has more than doubled over the past 50 years, leading to the expansion of residential development into bear habitat around cities such as Colorado Springs and Vail.
According to the state wildlife agency, officials and landowners in New Mexico have killed 187 bears this year—the highest number since 2011. Meanwhile, 35 adults and 16 cubs have been relocated. Police said that a bear killed a man in New Mexico last week—the first fatal attack in the state in 25 years.
Authorities urge residents to use bear-resistant garbage bins, not leave trash containers outside for several days, and not leave pet food or birdseed in places accessible to animals.
Previously
In Bulgaria, a bear fatally injured a man in his 30s in the mountainous Vitosha area near Sofia.