They\u2019re big, they\u2019re furry, and they\u2019re only getting closer to your backyard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year, for the first time, state officials are encouraging people in Raleigh, Durham, and the rest of the Piedmont to learn how to live with bears. It\u2019s an expansion of an awareness campaign that\u2019s already well known in the mountains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The campaign comes as bear populations are growing statewide, and breeding populations of bears are inching closer to the Triangle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a new thing when a bear shows up in Raleigh and everybody kind of freaks out,\u201d said North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission biologist Greg Batts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Batts says waterways and greenways can act as bear highways, with young male bears already passing through the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey use and roam across a large space. They\u2019re here today and gone tomorrow,\u201d said Batts.<\/p>\n
According to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the state is home to more than 20,000 bears, a population that\u2019s growing at a rate of about 3% each year. Already bears are living and mating in Vance, Warren, Franklin, Edgecomb, Wilson, and more counties, and are expanding their range by about 3-5 miles each year. That\u2019s leading to more conflict with humans, and more calls to wildlife control officers.\u00a0<\/p>\n