In March, the DNR shared tips as black bears began emerging from their winter dens across Michigan<\/b><\/a>. There are an estimated 10,350 black bears in the Upper Peninsula and around 2,100 in the Lower Peninsula. The Lower Peninsula’s population is concentrated mainly in the northern part; however, bears have been pushing south into urban areas, according to the DNR.<\/p>\nPaul North and his dog Frankie are bear hunters. North says the creatures are curious and fascinating, calling the sightings \u201cfantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other residents are concerned about safety. Rockwood resident Robbin Howarth is worried both for children and her dog Bella, encouraging people to take extra care and watch out for the bear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just kind of scary and concerning that there is a bear this close,\u201d Howarth said. \u201cI\u2019d like to know where it came from.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watch our extended interview with Shane Nolff below:<\/b><\/p>\n
Man talks about black bear sighting captured on his camera in Monroe County<\/p>\n
The DNR said that bears have an extraordinary sense of smell and memory, and can smell food from a mile away and remember that location for years. That includes backyard bird feeders or even a grease-spattered grill.<\/p>\n
“When bears get used to human-associated food sources, they are more apt to roam neighborhoods \u2014 not flee when harassed by people \u2014 and even break into homes and outbuildings for food,” the DNR wrote.<\/p>\n
The DNR did say that you don’t have to request the animal be relocated if a bear is raiding your birdfeeder; however, you can remove the feeder for at least two weeks and the bears should stop coming around.<\/p>\n
“Michigan is bear country,\u201d said Jared Duquette, human-wildlife interactions specialist for the DNR. \u201cAnd as bears come out of their winter dens, it\u2019s important to remember that we can live responsibly with these magnificent animals and avoid conflicts by following some basic best practices. Take down bird feeders, especially in the spring and summer, clean grills after use, don\u2019t leave pet food outside and wait until collection day to put your trash out.\u201d<\/p>\n
In high-density bear areas, you should consider using a bear-resistant trash bin.
If you see a bear and it notices you, stand still, don’t approach and then move away quietly in the opposite direction. Do not run, as it may trigger a chase response.<\/p>\n
Rockwood police say there are no reports of property damage or aggressive behavior displayed by the bear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROCKWOOD, Mich. (WXYZ) \u2014 The Michigan Department of Natural Resources this week said two black bear sightings were…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":791799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7576,1449,7581,159,67,132,68,837,7579],"class_list":{"0":"post-793466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-7-action-news","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-metro-detroit","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-wildlife","16":"tag-wxyz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116567381745564359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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