{"id":31622,"date":"2020-10-07T11:28:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T15:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=31622"},"modified":"2020-10-07T12:13:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T16:13:05","slug":"maryland-black-bear-activity-rises-as-leaves-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2020\/10\/07\/maryland-black-bear-activity-rises-as-leaves-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Black Bear Activity Rises as Leaves Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Residents Reminded to Take Common-Sense Precautions<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1963\/30120742797_8cbb4711a5.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of black bear in the woods\" width=\"350\" height=\"263\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Bob Geary<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> reminds residents and visitors that black bears are beginning a period of increased feeding activity in preparation for winter hibernation. Black bears in Maryland are concentrated in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">During this time, bears may become more attracted to human-provided food sources, which can lead to them losing their natural fear of people. This in turn can lead to human-bear encounters that can be dangerous for both people and bears. Natural foods such as acorns and hickory nuts are not as abundant throughout Maryland\u2019s bear country this year, which can increase a bear\u2019s travel distance and willingness to search for foods close to people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cKeeping bird seed, pet food, and trash stored inside a garage or other secure area is the best way to keep potential food sources out of reach from wandering bears,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Wildlife\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wildlife and Heritage Service<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Director Paul Peditto said. \u201cMarylanders should also delay filling and hanging bird feeders outside until winter to avoid attracting bears.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Since bears may travel many miles in search of food, motorists traveling in Maryland\u2019s western counties, especially Allegany and Garrett, are reminded to watch for them crossing roads, especially during October and November. Bears will begin entering dens in mid-November. Most will be inside dens by mid-December.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More information about living with black bears can be found <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/Pages\/hunt_trap\/bblivingwith.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">online<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> or by calling 410-260-8540 or 301-777-2136.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Residents Reminded to Take Common-Sense Precautions The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reminds residents and visitors that black bears are beginning a period of increased feeding activity in preparation for winter hibernation. Black bears in Maryland are concentrated in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,13],"tags":[2948,3531,2918,2949,2909],"class_list":["post-31622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-wildlife","tag-allegany-county","tag-black-bears","tag-frederick-county","tag-garrett-county","tag-washington-county"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31622"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31634,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31622\/revisions\/31634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}