{"id":515467,"date":"2026-03-10T18:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/515467\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:13:14","slug":"new-york-department-of-environmental-conservation-provides-black-bear-safety-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/515467\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Department of Environmental Conservation provides black bear safety tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">NEW YORK (WBNG) &#8212; Some residents in Owego are having discussions about bears after reports of a black bear roaming the street, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1FNgFk36bh\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/1FNgFk36bh\/\">a post on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Black bears can remain dormant for up to five months in winter. As spring approaches, they are becoming more active in the early morning and late evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">NYDEC explains that following hibernation, black bears spend a lot of time foraging for food. Their exploration and curiosity can bring them close to humans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be scared if you see a bear. Bears are usually more scared of us than we are of them. But you should be cautious. Never approach a bear. You should never attempt to feed a bear.\u201d said Big Game Biologist Brendan Quirion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Though rarely seen by New Yorkers, black bears can be found in semi-rural environments, agricultural areas, and occasionally in urban centers based on information from the <a href=\"https:\/\/dec.ny.gov\/nature\/animals-fish-plants\/black-bear\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/dec.ny.gov\/nature\/animals-fish-plants\/black-bear\">NYDEC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cMake sure the bear knows that you\u2019re there. Because you don\u2019t want to surprise a bear. That can lead to the bear acting aggressively and we want to make sure the bear keeps a safe distance from people.\u201d Quirion said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Quirion explains to report black bear sightings to local governments to ensure restaurants and businesses in the area are removing potential food sources that attract bears, and that they are implementing proper food storage procedures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cMake sure neighbors know if there\u2019s bear activity in the area and educate them on the precautions they can take as well.\u201d Quirion said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 WBNG. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (WBNG) &#8212; Some residents in Owego are having discussions about bears after reports of a black&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-515467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}