A juvenile black bear was spotted in midtown Wilmington last week. The video, submitted to WECT by Tim Garner , shows the bear crossing a street near Wrightsville and Wilshire Avenue, hopping over a four-foot chain-link fence into and out of a residential yard, and escaping into the woods. Several area residents reportedly caught sight of this bear.
Dr. Rachael Urbanek, UNCW Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Certified Wildlife Biologist, said of the video, “The bear was clearly scared of the vehicle, which is why it was running away and into more dense woods.”
While the suburban sighting felt unusual to residents, biologists say black bears historically roamed throughout the entire state long before cities and highways reshaped their habitat. According to a WUNC interview with Joe Folta, NC State Wildlife Resources Commission biologist, most black bears were driven out or killed until 1972, when bear sanctuaries covering nearly 800,000 acres were established to help protect breeding females and allow the bears to disperse across the state again. Although NC State’s recent bear count hasn’t been released yet, it is estimated that 20,000 bears live across North Carolina, with about 12,000 of those in the eastern half of the state.
A map provided by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission shows the areas of the state where bears have re-expanded. New Hanover, which appears as an unlabeled county between Pender and Brunswick on the map, is largely white, meaning unoccupied by bears, with a small area of green and purple, meaning occupied since at least 1991. Urbanek said, “The black bear population in the coastal plain of North Carolina is doing great. In 2023, hunters harvested 2,696 bears in the coastal plain. Ten years ago, the harvest was only 1,780, and in 2003, it was 1,090. The increase in harvest is related to the increased bear population.” (You can find state data on annual harvest by coastal county here.)While this is good news for our environment and for bears, many urban citizens have not seen a black bear up close.
Urbanek said, “It is still very unusual in Wilmington to see a bear, especially closer to the more populated areas, compared to the rural edges and surrounding, more rural counties.” She continues, “While it’s unoccupied, it does not mean we won’t get transient bears passing through.”
Black bears “are omnivores and prefer to eat insects, fruits, honey, small mammals like mice, or lizards,” said Urbanek. In an urban or suburban setting, they are happy to eat what they can find easily. Urbanek and Folta agree that bears are attracted to food, including unsecured pet food, garbage, birdfeeders, recycling, scented candles (especially fruit scents), and grills. Urbanek adds berry-producing shrubs, bushes, and trees to the list. Since bears can smell food for up to twenty miles, Folta said keeping these items in secure bins, putting birdfeeders away, and cleaning grills makes your area less attractive to them. Urbanek warns people against thinking “they should ‘do a good deed’ and put food out [for a wild bear]. That is absolutely what NOT to do and is a recipe for disaster for any wildlife, especially larger ones like bears.”
As the saying goes, “A fed bear is a dead bear.” Bears who find food and shelter in urban areas are more likely to interact with humans and end up killed by cars or wildlife control when they become problem bears. Not making food readily available encourages them to find their way back to their natural habitat faster.
Urbanek said, “Bears in the coastal plain of North Carolina do not hibernate, but the females tend to stay predominantly in their dens with their cubs over winter. Males will move around still a bit more [from] November to March than females. By this time of year, all the bears are moving out of the dens in search of food that the spring season provides.”
Urbanek adds, “Several peer-reviewed published studies indicate that male bears tend to have more human-bear interactions because of their large home range sizes or if they are young bears looking for a place to call home. Yearling bears, bears between 12 and 24 months old, are also leaving their mothers and searching for a place to call their own in the summer.”
Development surely has an effect on where bears live, move, and travel. Urbanek said, “Without a formal study, it’s hard to say how much. In the big picture, the less natural habitat, the more opportunity for human-wildlife interaction to occur.” Some species, including black bears, adapt quickly to urbanization.
Urbanek said that black bears make “use of human development for denning areas” and food sources outside of their historic habitat to survive. “All wildlife, including bears, will select a more natural habitat and prefer to avoid humans, however. With less habitat, they need to choose lesser quality denning sites, which makes them closer to human development.”
When a black bear and a human interact, the bear is the one most likely to die. Black bears are not generally aggressive. According to Dr. Lynn Rogers’ article, “How Dangerous are Black Bears,” the wildlife biologist and founder of the North American Bear Center writes that people are much more likely to be “killed by a domestic dog, bees, or lightning” than a black bear. “Startled black bears run away, often to a tree,” writes Rogers.
Urbanek said, “If anyone sees a bear while driving, make sure to slow down or stop so that you do not hit it.” If a bear is struck by a vehicle, call the Wildlife Helpline.
She continued, “If [residents] encounter a bear outside, and do not have a place to retreat to (i.e., a car, house), then the best thing to do is haze the bear. Raise your arms above your head to make yourself look larger, clap your hands, stomp your feet, and yell loudly at the bear to scare it away. If you see the bear from a car or house, just enjoy the view!” She said, “I would hope people just enjoy the sighting and remain safe while doing so.” She adds, “You cannot ‘play dead’ with a black bear – save that for the larger grizzly bears out West!”
The best advice is to call the Wildlife Helpline and stay away. If a bear is in your yard, make sure your neighbors know about it, too.
Urbanek said, “If we, as humans, insist on continuing to develop the land, then we need to recognize that human-wildlife interactions are going to occur. We should be happy we still have the opportunity to see wildlife in the ‘urban jungle.’”
For more information on bears, check out Bearwise. The NCWRC Wildlife Helpline is available with information at 866-318-2401, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on State holidays.
