{"id":42652,"date":"2024-10-01T13:32:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T17:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=42652"},"modified":"2024-10-01T13:32:51","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T17:32:51","slug":"marylands-black-bear-activity-increases-in-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/10\/01\/marylands-black-bear-activity-increases-in-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland\u2019s Black Bear Activity Increases in Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo

Photo by Bob Geary, submitted to Maryland Department of Natural Resources Photo Contest.<\/p><\/div>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/span><\/a>\u00a0reminds residents that black bears are beginning a period of increased feeding activity in preparation for winter hibernation.\u00a0As the leaves change and the weather cools, bears become more active as they search for food.<\/span><\/p>\n

During this time, bears will travel across roads more frequently. They also can become more attracted to human-provided food sources and lose their natural fear of people, which can be dangerous for both people and bears.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBears will be more active and visible over the coming weeks as they search for food and prepare for winter,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Wildlife and Heritage Service<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Director Karina Stonesifer said.\u00a0\u201cThe Department would like to remind everyone that it is vitally important for bears that they remain wild and not become acclimated to humans. Residents should proactively remove any food or other attractants that could potentially increase the likelihood of this occurring.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Residents and visitors should note that keeping bird feeders, pet food and trash in a place where bears can\u2019t get to them is the best way to avoid problems. Marylanders should also delay filling songbird feeders until the winter months to avoid attracting bears.<\/span><\/p>\n

Black bears in Maryland are concentrated in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties, but are known to roam into other northern and central counties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since bears may travel many miles in search of food, motorists traveling in Maryland\u2019s western counties are reminded to watch for them crossing roads, especially during October and November.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bears will begin entering dens in mid-November; and most will remain inside by mid-December.<\/span><\/p>\n

More information about living with black bears can be found\u00a0<\/span>online<\/span><\/a>\u00a0or by calling 410-260-8540 or 301-777-2136.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u00a0reminds residents that black bears are beginning a period of increased feeding activity in preparation for winter hibernation.\u00a0As the leaves change and the weather cools, bears become more active as they search for food. During this time, bears will travel across roads more frequently. They also can become more attracted to  Read the Rest…<\/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":[3531,5093,5045],"class_list":["post-42652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-wildlife","tag-black-bears","tag-fall","tag-wildlife-and-heritage-service"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42652","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=42652"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42654,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42652\/revisions\/42654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}