SOUTHEAST MISSOURI (KFVS) – Two black bear sightings were reported at the beginning of August in southeast Missouri.
On Friday, August 1, viewer Tenille Estes sent Heartland News a video of what appears to be a black bear cub running alongside a road.
This was in Glenallen, in Bollinger County.
Bear spotted in Bollinger County, Mo.
Then, on Tuesday, August 5, viewer Gary Byrd sent this image captured on a game camera near Burfordville in Cape Girardeau County.
The picture appears to show a full-grown black bear.
A viewer sent in a game camera photo of what appears to be an adult black bear near Burfordville, Mo.(Gary Byrd)
There are fewer than 20 miles between the two sightings, with Glenallen and Burfordville both near the county line.
Wildlife biologist Alexis Kiepe works with the Missouri Conservation Department. She said the double sighting is not something that should raise concern.
“As far as we’ve been following our population of bears in the state of Missouri for the last several years, this is kind of to be expected.”
Kiepe said the majority of Missouri’s black bears live in the southern third of the state.
“If you imagine where Interstate 44 is, most of our bears live south of there.”
Kiepe said most of the bears are concentrated west of the Heartland, in the true Ozark regions of Shannon and Howell Counties.
According to MDC, Missouri’s black bear population was once thought to be extirpated. In recent years, their numbers have increased enough to resume hunting.
The 2025 season is October 18-31. Click here to learn more.
Kiepe said as the number of black bears in Missouri increases, the animals will have to compete to find food and travel longer distances.
“For the forested areas that they like to live in, we are right there in the prime habitat on the very eastern edge of where they’re going to expand to,” Kiepe said. “It’s not surprising that we’re seeing more bears in our area by any means.”
An important step to prevent black bears from wandering onto private property is removing bird feeders during their more active season.
“This is a very active time period for bears, this time of the year. They come out in the spring out of their dormancy period, and then they’ll be going back into the fall, and so they’re looking for a lot of food sources and they will take the path of least resistance.”
Kiepe said to a black bear, a bird feeder is like a buffet.
“They would much rather drink out of your hummingbird feeder than go and break open a bunch of logs in the woods and find grubs that way.”
True to the stereotype, Kiepe said black bears are known to get into people’s honey.
Despite their friendly appearance, Kiepe said these bears are powerful wild animals and should never be approached by people.
“It’s something that in our state we are going to get more accustomed to, I think, but right now, it’s really novel and people think that they’re cute, and those sorts of things.”
When black bears are spotted, Kiepe said MDC would like to know.
“Even if you see scat or just prints from a bear, those are things that you can report.”
People can use this online form for black bear reports.
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