{"id":35966,"date":"2022-04-19T08:16:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T12:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=35966"},"modified":"2022-04-19T08:17:26","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T12:17:26","slug":"black-bears-emerging-from-winter-dens-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2022\/04\/19\/black-bears-emerging-from-winter-dens-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Bears Emerging from Winter Dens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marylanders Urged to Keep Bears Wild<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 359px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4438\/36406048870_5967e8b545.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of DNR staffer with tranquilized bear\" width=\"349\" height=\"262\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologists tranquilize and relocate a nuisance bear in Westernport in 2017. Photo by Nancy Doran, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland\u2019s black bears are leaving their winter dens and as they emerge, they are hungry. Bears will be searching for natural food sources such as acorns, plants, berries, and insects. With natural food sources in short supply until later in the spring, bears can be attracted to anything that smells like food.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Homeowners who leave human-generated food sources out in the open may unintentionally draw bears to residential areas. Residents of <a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/western\/Black-Bear-Country.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland\u2019s bear country<\/a> are urged to be proactive and exercise good judgment to avoid creating man-made attractions for bears.\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0advises:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Removing backyard bird feeders from April through November \u2013 birds have plenty of wild food sources during this time;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Locking garbage in a bear-proof trash bin or storing trash containers in a locked garage or shed until the morning of trash pickup;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rinsing out trash containers with ammonia to eliminate odors; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Storing cooking grills inside and keeping them clean of food residue.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cKeeping bears wild continues to be a community effort that benefits bears and people,\u201d said Wildlife and Heritage Service Director Paul Peditto. \u201cUsing care to avoid attracting bears now will help keep them away throughout the year and ensure they remain in the wild.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bears are most common in Maryland\u2019s four westernmost counties \u2013 Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington. However, they can be found anywhere in central and southern Maryland, particularly during spring when young male bears tend to wander into new areas looking for a chance to establish their own territory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More information on living with bears is available\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/Pages\/hunt_trap\/bblivingwith.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">online<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marylanders Urged to Keep Bears Wild Maryland\u2019s black bears are leaving their winter dens and as they emerge, they are hungry. Bears will be searching for natural food sources such as acorns, plants, berries, and insects. With natural food sources in short supply until later in the spring, bears can be attracted to anything that<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2022\/04\/19\/black-bears-emerging-from-winter-dens-4\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/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-35966","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\/35966","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=35966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35967,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35966\/revisions\/35967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}