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he bears are back.

Not that they’d been far away, but with hibernation over, they’ve been making the rounds this spring, going to familiar haunts – and finding new ones – in Pamlico County.

In yards in Merritt, Florence, Arapahoe and Oriental, they’ve left a trail: destroyed beehives, at least one swatted-aside porch screen, tree branches snapped off, and busted bird feeders here and there and well, everywhere.

Sign of the season: bird feeder pole bent over by a bear. This was the scene in early May morning in a yard near Teach’s Cove Road. Dick and Donna Mannion had been taking the bird feeder in nightly, but forgot one night.”

The bears’ behavior suggests a healthy memory. That stands in contrast to the actions of some humans whose behavior – this year, as with last – continues to lure bears. While there as not yet been a bear-human encounter but wildlife experts say the chances increase the more the bears feel comfortable seeking food in subdivisions rather than the woods.

Nocturnal Visits (Mostly)

In the past month, a bear – or bears – destroyed 3 bee hives belonging to Pamlico Bee Works beekeeper, Pat Del Rio. The locations reinforce the idea that the bears’ range is wide.

“These three visitations were in Florence, the Lee Farm area on the Neuse, and at Buccaneer Bay East,” Pat says..

From the upper reaches of Smith Creek to Merritt to a backyard in Oriental a block from the Neuse River, bird feeder casualties areon therisr.

On Link Lane just off of Ragan Road in Oriental, Bill Hines says a bear paid a visit two nights in mid-April. The target was a bird feeder that was suspended 6 feet off the ground from a tree via a line. That proved to be within easy swiping distance.

Bill, the Creekeeper with Sound Rivers, says he then arranged the feeder on the tree bough so that it was 8 feet off the ground. But even that made for easy pickings once the bear figured out where the other end of the line was secured. One extra motivating factor, Bill says, may’ve been the suet concoction set out for the birds.

It takes a big paw to wrestle so many bird feeders and grills and beehives. This photo of a bear track was taken in Merritt. For comparison, the human shoe size is a 14; the bear’s might be quantified as “big enough, thank you.” (Photo: Terry Elshaug)

In mid-April a bear traipsed off and on for ten hours in Gary Mitchelson’s yard off of Cabin Creek Road in Florence. A video shows the bear making easy work of pushing a feeder over. .

“A galvanized steel bird feeder … was absolutely crushed,” Gary says. He took it as a a “the annual sign to take all the feeders down until next winter.”

The ursine visits were something new for Gary Mitchelson.

“We knew they were across the peninsula last year at Ball Creek, but there have only been traces they were over here. We have only lived here a little over a year. So this is our first sighting.”

It appears that the bear — or at least, a bear — is returning to its old Ball Creek haunts too.

Jim Root, who last year found a young bear inside his screened deck one night, says that bears have returned to his yard more than once this spring. The first sighting was in late April. Jim’s wife, Chris, spotted it at 11 one night at the bottom of the back porch stairs. It was hard to miss.

“She thought it was about three feet at the shoulder, and weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 lbs.” Jim says. “This bear was not the yearling that visited us last year; this boy was much larger.”

Chris Root – on the other side of a door – scared the bear away that night but Jim Root says it didn’t stay away from the ‘hood for long.

“The next night he waltzed with a propane grill, destroyed a bluebird house, a beehive, and left one home’s loose seed feeders looking like the backyard had been carpet bombed. This is life in a bear preserve as best we know it.”

Most of the bears have been visiting in yards when it is dark, though in recent days in Merritt, a bear visited a yard in mid-morning.

Daniel Kennedy, the NC Wildlife Resources officer for Pamlico and neighboring counties says a bear “will not stay in a settled area unless it finds a reliable food source.”

It may also have other things on its mind, says Officer Kennedy. “The bear in your backyard may be dispersing through your neighborhood or searching for a mate.” Sometimes it marks territory, which may explain some of the branches snapped off trees.

Broken limb from a tree, thought to have been done by a bear. One possible explanation: a marking of territory.

“Bears live in many North Carolina counties,” Kennedy says, “They are not usually dangerous unless humans feed or provoke them.” Residents can avoid “accidentally feeding” bears by keeping garbage, food scraps, pet food and many other forms of human food “locked away from bears in strong, safe places.”

If you are out walking and come upon a bear, your instinct may be to run, but that’s a sprint you likely will not win.

“Don’t run away,” Wildlife Officer Kennedy says. Instead, you should “back away slowly and make lots of noise.”

“Clap your hands, wave your arms above your head to try to make yourself look bigger.”

And back at home do those things that make your yard less inviting. As Kennedy noted in a talk he gave last summer in Florence, bird feeders should be taken in, outdoor grills scrubbed clean of the last grilling, and garbage cans kept clean.

Posted Wednesday May 25, 2016 by Melinda Penkava