Tag: black bears

Black Bear Spotted Outside Home Near Santa Barbara in Surprise Visit

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Residents of a home near Santa Barbara were in for a surprise when a bear dropped by for a sudden visit outside their window. In a video shared on social media, a bear can be seen outside the window of a house. Uploaded by Sid Beck under the username sid_beck on Instagram, the caption of the video mentioned that a “large bear” was spotted outside a friend’s window just off State Route 154 on the ocean side of the mountains. The animal, which appears to be a black bear, can be seen waiting for a few moments near the closed window. As it bumps its nose on the glass, the animal calmly moves away, looks around, and eventually walks away.

The residents can be heard reacting to the big bear as their pet dog joins in, barking at the uninvited evening visitor. The video stated that the bear encounter took place on October 25. State Route 154 travels through the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Ynez Mountains and through the southern portion of the Los Padres National Forest, which is home to a number of black bears. Bear sightings in the Central Coast are a common occurrence, and the animals are commonly seen roaming around in residential areas in Santa Barbara and Goleta, particularly in spring and summer. Earlier this year, a black bear that was spotted roaming in Santa Paula, Ventura County, had to be tranquilized by wildlife officials and removed from the area. In late June, a large black bear was seen wandering around a neighborhood in Goleta and later spotted taking shelter in a tree.

Last spring, multiple black bears were spotted at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with two bears being seen over three weeks, sparking concern from residents. Although black bears generally avoid humans, the animals frequent urban or residential areas if they find food sources such as unsecured garbage, pet food, and other accessible food sources.

Source: Black Bear Spotted Outside Home Near Santa Barbara in Surprise Visit – edhat

Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
1 Corinthians 7:2

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Bear encounters are on the rise. Here’s what to do if you meet one

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Black bear and three cubs walking through a dry mountain forest

A drought in the western U.S. has devastated wildlands, dried up food sources and sent bears wandering along city sidewalks and into homes and shops in search of food. What should you do if you meet a bear? Reuters ​turned to BearWise, opens new tab, which bear biologists started in the southeastern United States in 2018 and that grew into ‌a national program of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.

SHOULD PEOPLE FEAR BEARS?

Over millennia, humans have mythologized, vilified and attributed personalities to bears. Smart, strong and fast, bears can weigh hundreds of pounds and are feared predators in the wild. But they typically avoid people and ​rarely attack them, scientists say.

HOW CAN YOU TELL IF A BEAR FEELS THREATENED?

A bear that is huffing, ​moaning or clacking its jaws is showing it is feeling threatened and prepared to defend itself. ⁠BearWise advises standing your ground in the face of a defensive bear, even if it moves toward you. If ​it makes contact, play dead, protecting your head, until it goes away.

WHAT IF THE BEAR IS AGGRESSIVE?

While a defensive bear ​is noisy and obviously stressed, an aggressive or predatory bear is quiet and moves deliberately. In this situation, experts advise shouting, throwing rocks and using bear spray. If a predatory bear makes physical contact, fight back.

DOES IT MATTER WHETHER IT’S A BLACK OR GRIZZLY BEAR?

No, according ​to Nate Bowersock, a black bear biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation and chair of the BearWise working group ​of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. The key is to respond to the bear’s behavior, not its species.

Bears can be hard ‌to tell ⁠apart, especially if you are under pressure. Grizzlies, also known as brown bears, are distinguished in appearance by a shoulder hump. Individual black or grizzly bears vary from black to light brown and range in size.

WHERE ARE NORTH AMERICA’S BEARS?

Black bears are numerous and found across the U.S. and in Canada and Mexico. Most grizzlies, whose population has rebounded because ​of conservation efforts, live in ​Alaska and northern Canada, but ⁠also in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington state.

HOW CAN YOU AVOID TROUBLE?

If you spot a bear, do not approach. Do not gather to gawk if a bear shows up in ​your neighborhood.

If you find a bear in your home or business, leave and call ​in expert help, ⁠Bowersock said.

“Back away quietly,” he said.

Do not feed bears, and that includes not leaving pet food outside, keeping trash bins off the street until pickup morning and keeping barbecue grills clean.

IT’S A DROUGHT. SHOULDN’T I FEED THE BEARS?

Bowersock said people would be ⁠mistaken to ​think they are helping by feeding bears, and that it is even ​more important not to do so during a drought.

“If a bear finds food near people and starts to associate human areas with food, they will ​likely spend even more time in the future near people, even during non-drought times.”

Source: Bear encounters are on the rise. Here’s what to do if you meet one | Reuters

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
Proverbs 16:32

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