{"id":819335,"date":"2026-08-20T00:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T00:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819335\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T00:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T00:48:09","slug":"asheville-neighbors-surprised-that-bear-injured-resident-after-years-of-close-encounters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819335\/","title":{"rendered":"Asheville neighbors surprised that bear injured resident after years of close encounters"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A North Asheville resident is recovering after a close encounter<\/a> with a black bear Tuesday night, according to responding agencies. The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n

The incident happened around 8:30 p.m. on Spooks Branch Road.<\/p>\n

According to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, an adult female bear entered a North Asheville home while her three cubs remained outside on the porch.<\/p>\n

The victim, who asked not to be identified, was injured while attempting to get the bear out of the home.<\/p>\n

N.C. Wildlife officials say they are now working to capture and euthanize the adult female bear, since she poses a threat to human safety. Wildlife officials are also attempting to capture and relocate the three cubs, which they say are old enough to be self-sufficient.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: BEAR INJURES RESIDENT AFTER ENTERING UNLOCKED HOME IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY: OFFICIALS<\/a><\/p>\n

Neighbors say bear activity in the area is nothing unusual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re not scared if you don’t come too close, and they just play on the trees or with the cubs if they have cubs,\u201d said resident Maria Guzman.<\/p>\n

Melissa Heath, another resident, said bears often spend time in the meadow, creek and a nearby pond.<\/p>\n

Several residents said they have had close encounters with bears over the years.<\/p>\n

\"AUG.<\/p>\n

AUG. 19, 2026 – A North Asheville resident is recovering after a close encounter with a black bear Tuesday night, according to responding agencies. The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The incident happened around 8:30 p.m. on Spooks Branch Road. (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)<\/p>\n

Heath recalled one incident when a mother bear removed a window from her home and entered the house, followed by her cubs. She said the bear appeared to be looking for food, including cat food.<\/p>\n

Guzman said she has also seen bears around her home, including cubs getting into bird feeders and a mother bear going through the trash.<\/p>\n

Residents have taken precautions to keep bears out, including securing trash cans, gating off porches and installing bars over windows.<\/p>\n

INCREASED BEAR ACTIVITY CLOSES CAMPING AREA NEAR MT. MITCHELL STATE PARK: FOREST SERVICE<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite those precautions, neighbors said they were surprised to learn that a bear had injured someone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been here living in Asheville more than 35 years, and I have never heard about that,\u201d Guzman said.<\/p>\n

Heath said that, in her experience, the bears have not typically shown aggression toward people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re never aggressive. In my experience, they’re, you know, they will go after food. But I’ve never had a problem with them being aggressive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) \u2014 A North Asheville resident is recovering after a close encounter with a black bear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-819335","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\/819335","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=819335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}