WATERBURY, Vt. (WCAX) – Bear-human conflicts in Vermont have increased as the state’s bear population grows and more visitors arrive, according to wildlife officials.
The signs at Little River State Park in Waterbury make clear visitors are in bear country.
“Over the past few years, this park has sustained activity with bears in the area,” Game Warden Jeremy Schmid said.
Schmid points to proactive steps taken at the park to reduce conflicts, including reinforced metal dumpsters. “These dumpsters are all reinforced metal with locking mechanisms on the top and on the side, manipulated by secure latches,” he said.
Despite those efforts, Schmid said his summer days are filled with bear calls. “We seem to be going to more high profile cases and incidents right now as wardens, other than the typical bear getting into a garbage container,” he said.
He said those high-profile cases involve more intense bear-human conflicts. “The generation of bears that we’re seeing now are ones that have grown up and taught how to gain easy food sources, so we’re dealing with bears that are going into homes, vehicles and getting into trash instead of their natural habitat foraging for food like they’re supposed to,” Schmid said.
Bears breaking into buildings or cars used to be rare. Now, Fish and Wildlife black bear biologist Jacqueline Comeau says it’s a weekly occurrence. “Ten to five years ago, we might only get one to five of those a year that we would hear about … Now we’ve had some weeks this summer where we’re getting three to five in a week … In the past, we didn’t even really track because it was just a handful of cases throughout the year and not in every town,” Comeau said.
Comeau said bears are found across the state, not just in rural areas. “We’re trying to get that message out so everyone is aware, unless you’re in Lake Champlain, Vermont is bear country and there’s a good chance you could encounter a bear,” she said.
Schmid said many of the calls wardens respond to are avoidable. “Calls we are responding to are avoidable if we as humans take additional steps to lock our vehicles, lock our houses, secure our windows, secure our trash, lock our trash or put it out at the last minute. If humans take that extra step it could mitigate most of these problems,” he said.
Bear sightings can be reported to Vermont Fish and Wildlife.
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.