Overview
The black bear is the only bear species found in North Carolina or anywhere in the eastern United States. The successful comeback of the American black bear in North Carolina represents one of wildlife management's greatest achievements. Black bears were once restricted to remote areas and reached very low population levels in the mid-1900s. Today, black bears are found approximately 60% of the total land area of North Carolina.
As habitat is developed and human populations increase, it is ultimately human attitudes toward bears that will determine whether bears will continue to exist in the state. Unfortunately, bears are viewed either as dangerous animals or cuddly pets. It is best to avoid these extreme views and instead show a healthy respect for this magnificent forest animal.
Their diets typically consist of acorns, berries, carrion, corn, fish, frogs, fruits, grasses, grubs, honey, insects, larvae, leaves, nuts, peanuts, reptiles, roots, seeds, small mammals, soybeans and wheat. Bears prefer large expanses of uninhabited woodland or swampland with dense cover. In the east, lowland hardwoods, swamps and pocosins, provide good bear habitat. These types of habitat provide the necessary travel corridors, escape cover and natural foods that bears need to thrive in North Carolina.
History and Status
Before Europeans came to the New World, black bears lived in all forested regions of North America and were abundant in the area that would one day become North Carolina. However, like mountain lions and gray wolves, black bears were often killed by early settlers to protect their families, crops and livestock. In time, bears across the state were impacted by human development. By the early 1900s, black bears were found only in the most remote mountains and coastal swamps of the Tarheel State. Compounding the decrease in available habitat, the American chestnut blight (a tree-killing fungus) hit the mountain region in the 1920s, causing the loss of the most important nut-producing tree for bears and other species of wildlife. As a result, bear populations suffered. Mountain lion and gray wolf populations never recovered, but the black bear has made a remarkable recovery in both population and range over the last 30 to 40 years. Bears have come back to North Carolina without the aid of stocking efforts like those used to bring back wild turkeys and white-tailed deer. Black bear expansion has occurred naturally as bears have moved into suitable, but previously unoccupied, habitats at a rapid rate. Today, there are approximately 15,000 bears in the state, occupying about 60% of the state’s total land area.
Description
The black bear is an omnivore with a diet of both plants and animals. It varies in color: in North Carolina, the black bear is usually black with a brown muzzle and sometimes a white patch on its chest. In other areas of North America, black bears can be a very common brown color or a more rare blue and white. All bear species have five toes on each foot and each toe has a sharp curved claw enabling the bear to feed on insects and grubs in decaying logs. Black bears rely mostly on their sense of smell and hearing due to poor eyesight, but are adept at climbing, running, swimming and digging. They have been clocked at speeds of 35 miles per hour over short distances.
Habitat and Habits
Bears prefer large expanses of uninhabited woodland or swampland with dense cover. In the east, lowland hardwoods, swamps and pocosins, provide good bear habitat. Recent research has shown bears to be much more adaptable to habitat changes than previously thought. Bears put on additional weight in autumn to prepare for winter denning. They build dens in cavities of live trees, hollow logs, caves, rock outcroppings, cavities in the ground, or in a thicket. Usually black bears construct nests of leaves, sticks, and grass within the den, which often resemble giant bird nests. In North Carolina, den entry can occur as early as the end of November or as late as the beginning of January. Most North Carolina bears emerge from their dens in March or early April, depending on the weather and food availability.
Black bears are an important part of North Carolina's fauna. As human populations increase, it is ultimately human attitudes toward bears that will determine whether bears will continue to exist in the state. Unfortunately, bears are viewed either as dangerous animals or cuddly pets. It is best to avoid these extreme views and instead show a healthy respect for this magnificent forest animal.
Please read how you can take simple, common-sense steps to do your part in ensuring that bears and people can live together. Implementing these steps will avoid attracting bears to your property and prevent conflicts from occurring. Remember, prevention is the best medicine!
Contrary to popular belief, commission employees will not trap and relocate nuisance bears for the following reasons:
- Most conflicts do not warrant trapping. For example, a bear simply being in a neighborhood is not threatening for cause for trapping.
- In most cases, people are the cause of the problem and the best long-term solution involves removal of attractants (bird feeders, unsecured garbage) rather than destruction of the bear.
- Simply catching every bear that someone sees is not an option; we have no remote places left to relocate bears where they will not come into contact with humans.
- Relocated bears often return to the place they were originally captured.
- The process of catching bears is difficult, and can be more dangerous for the bear, the public, and those involved than letting the bear take its natural course.
- This would simply move the problem, rather than solve it. The solution is to modify your habits and prevent bears from being attracted to your home.
- If a bear’s behavior is escalating to bold and threatening behavior towards people, commission staff will euthanize the bear.
The following are examples of threatening behavior:
- Bear charges towards a person. This often occurs when people have cornered the bear or have placed themselves too close to the bear.
- Bear approaches a person directly, despite efforts to harass it away.
- Bear follows a person, despite efforts to harass it away.
Examples of bear behavior that is not threatening:
- Simply being in a neighborhood.
- Being in a neighborhood with children.
- Standing on its legs. If a bear stands on its hind legs, it is attempting to see or smell.
- Vocalizations. If a bear feels threatened or stressed, it will start to vocalize, in the form of huffs, snorts, blowing, moans, and the popping of its jaw (a chomping sound). If a bear exhibits these behaviors, people should back away from the bear. Through visuals and sounds, the bear is telling you it is feeling threatened and you are too close.
What do I do if I see a bear?
Bears live in many North Carolina counties, and they are not usually dangerous unless humans feed or provoke them. Enjoy this rare chance, but from a distance.
Photo credit: Brian Swartz
The bear in your backyard may be dispersing through your neighborhood or searching for a mate. It will not stay in a settled area unless it finds a reliable food source.
If you see a bear:
- Try to stay calm.
- Don’t run away. Make the bear aware of your presence speaking in an assertive voice, clap your hands, wave your arms above your head to try to make yourself look bigger and make a lot of noise.
- Back up and slowly walk away.
- Keep children nearby.
- Keep pets locked up.
- Don’t approach a bear.
- Never surround or corner a bear.
If you happen to meet a bear at close range, back away slowly and make lots of noise.
Never feed bears or any wild animals, even if they look hungry or tame.
Take extra precautions not to feed bears accidentally —bears are attracted to garbage, food scraps, pet food and many other forms of human food. Keep such foods locked away from bears in strong, safe places.
Bears that wander into a residential area are sometimes frightened by dogs or residents and climb trees. Keep people away from the scene and the bear will come down and leave when it no longer feels threatened (often after dark).
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's black bear management includes:
- Regulations
- Bear Sanctuaries
- Enforcement of Laws
- Collection of Data from Hunters
- Surveys
- Research Studies (see examples below)
- Habitat Management
- Educating the Public
NCWRC oversees all bear research conducted in North Carolina through direct studies by Commission personnel as well as participation and oversight on a variety of research projects involving professors and students from universities.
Researcher tracking a bear using radio telemetry equipment.
In recent years, numerous universities including Auburn University, North Carolina State, the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech have performed research in North Carolina under permit from NCWRC.
Research has focused on issues ranging from bear habitat use and home ranges to procedures for estimating bear populations. The results of these research studies are often published in scientific journals.
Why Report?
- Your information allows NCWRC biologists to better monitor bear populations, make management decisions, and evaluate the impacts of bear harvests.
- By recording age and sex of harvested bears over a period of years, biologists can more accurately model bear populations.
***** We need information on all bears, young and old, to accurately model the bear population. *****
How to Report?
- Please leave contact information if staff is unavailable or submit tooth and data sheet (on back) and send to address listed at the bottom of the back page.
Instructions for Collecting Bear Teeth
Please submit both first premolars from the upper jaw (see drawing below). Click on drawing for a closer view.
- The tooth we need is the very small tooth immediately behind the upper canine tooth (see drawing).
- Use a screwdriver, ice pick, or knife blade to push the gum down and away from the tooth.
- Pull the tooth out with pliers or pry it out using the canine as a lever.
- DO NOT BREAK THE TOOTH OFF AT THE GUMLINE; WE NEED THE WHOLE TOOTH INCLUDING THE ROOT.
- Put both premolar teeth in the envelope, then seal it. Fill in the data on the envelope and data sheet and include your address if you want us to send the age of the bear to you and get a hat. Contact wildlife personnel to make arrangements for all data to be turned in.
- If you are unable to pull a premolar, the jaw can be cut.