As spring arrives and bears emerge from their dens across the country, Missouri\u2019s native black bears are becoming more active and sightings are increasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in Missouri, we have just black bears,\u201d said Nate Bowersock, the Black Bear and Furbearer Biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. Despite the name, he said, not all of Missouri\u2019s black bears are black. \u201cWe\u2019re pretty fortunate that our black bears aren\u2019t just black we see blonde bears, brown, cinnamon or reddish brown,\u201d Bowersock said.<\/p>\n
Wildlife experts say spring bear activity is largely driven by the search for food. \u201cThis is the time of year they\u2019re starting to eat green vegetation to start putting weight back on from the hibernation season,\u201d Bowersock said.<\/p>\n
In Missouri, bears don\u2019t always fully hibernate. Warmer winters and available food can keep them moving year-round. With the state\u2019s bear population now estimated at more than 1,000, sightings are becoming more common, but that is not a cause for concern. \u201cBears really don\u2019t want to have much to do with people most cases when people see a bear, they\u2019re usually seeing the back end running away,\u201d Bowersock said.<\/p>\n
Experts say preventing conflicts starts at home because bears are drawn to easy meals such as trash, pet food, livestock feed and bird feed, etc. \u201cIt\u2019s important to store those things properly so bears don\u2019t get into them that\u2019s where we start having conflict,\u201d Bowersock said.<\/p>\n
If someone encounters a bear, Bowersock advised people to keep their distance. \u201cEnjoy the sighting, but definitely keep your space,\u201d he said. Experts say giving bears distance helps prevent problems for both people and wildlife.<\/p>\n
Conservationists also point to the role black bears play in Missouri\u2019s ecosystem. \u201cThey\u2019re a great indicator species of forest health they help with nutrient recycling and they\u2019re really good seed dispersers,\u201d Bowersock said. From spreading seeds to cleaning up the forest floor, bears help keep ecosystems balanced.<\/p>\n
Their comeback in Missouri is described as a conservation success story \u2014 once nearly gone, now steadily growing. <\/p>\n
Conservation officials encourage anyone who spots a bear to report it to the Missouri Department of Conservation to help track activity across the state.<\/p>\n
More information on Black Bears and how to report them in Missouri can be found here<\/a>, and info on the National Bearwise Program can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As spring arrives and bears emerge from their dens across the country, Missouri\u2019s native black bears are becoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-592571","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\/592571","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=592571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}