{"id":332227,"date":"2025-12-05T15:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/332227\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:13:08","slug":"do-wildlife-encounters-in-southern-california-increase-during-periods-of-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/332227\/","title":{"rendered":"Do wildlife encounters in Southern California increase during periods of drought?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve likely seen videos of people in Southern California running into wildlife<\/a> on hikes or finding bears in their pools during summer heat. Research shows there is science behind these sightings.<\/p>\n

A new study from UC Davis<\/a> finds that interactions with wildlife increase during periods of drought, and it shows how climate change is bringing wild animals closer to humans.<\/p>\n

For every one-inch decrease in annual rainfall, researchers say there’s a 2-3% increase in clashes with wildlife in California.<\/p>\n

“So you can imagine during a drought – if we’re in multiple inches shorter of rainfall than an average year – that can quickly add up to the number of reported conflicts across the state,” said Kendall Calhoun, researcher at UCLA and UC Davis.<\/p>\n

It’s no surprise that less water and vegetation means less resources for animals, bringing carnivores closer to people as they search for food and water.<\/p>\n

Researchers went through seven years of data from the Wildlife Incident Reporting database<\/a>, particularly referring to black bears, coyotes, mountain lions and bobcats.<\/p>\n

A couple of bicyclists had a frightening encounter with a mountain lion on the trails in Whiting Ranch in Lake Forest, and it was all caught on video.<\/p>\n

They say reports of confrontation may also come from human behavior.<\/p>\n

“So even if the number of interactions with these wildlife species isn’t actually changing, the interaction itself might be interpreted as more negative during a stressful period like drought.”<\/p>\n

Because parts of Southern California are often in a drought, Calhoun says he hopes the study can help improve conservation for some of these species.<\/p>\n

“The message of the story is to understand how this is affecting us so we can improve co-existence between wildlife and people. And potentially one of the ways we can do that is managing the land in California and other places to be more climate resilient.”<\/p>\n


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