Do wildlife encounters in Southern California increase during periods of drought?

You’ve likely seen videos of people in Southern California running into wildlife on hikes or finding bears in their pools during summer heat. Research shows there is science behind these sightings.

A new study from UC Davis finds that interactions with wildlife increase during periods of drought, and it shows how climate change is bringing wild animals closer to humans.

For every one-inch decrease in annual rainfall, researchers say there’s a 2-3% increase in clashes with wildlife in California.

“So you can imagine during a drought – if we’re in multiple inches shorter of rainfall than an average year – that can quickly add up to the number of reported conflicts across the state,” said Kendall Calhoun, researcher at UCLA and UC Davis.

It’s no surprise that less water and vegetation means less resources for animals, bringing carnivores closer to people as they search for food and water.

Researchers went through seven years of data from the Wildlife Incident Reporting database, particularly referring to black bears, coyotes, mountain lions and bobcats.

They say reports of confrontation may also come from human behavior.

“So even if the number of interactions with these wildlife species isn’t actually changing, the interaction itself might be interpreted as more negative during a stressful period like drought.”

Because parts of Southern California are often in a drought, Calhoun says he hopes the study can help improve conservation for some of these species.

“The message of the story is to understand how this is affecting us so we can improve co-existence between wildlife and people. And potentially one of the ways we can do that is managing the land in California and other places to be more climate resilient.”