Bears seen circling campsites for hours, prompting alerts in North Carolina mountains
The U.S. Forest Service is warning visitors to Pisgah and Nantahala national forests that bears are coming alarmingly close to humans and even circling campsites in western North Carolina.
“Forest visitors have reported bears tearing down bear bags from trees, carrying off backpacks, spending hours near campsites and being unaffected by efforts to scare them away,” the forest service said in a news release.
The rise in bear encounters coincided with the three-day Memorial Day weekend and was “concentrated in the Pisgah, Appalachian, and Nantahala Ranger Districts,” officials said.
No injuries were reported, and details of specific bear encounters were not released.
It’s the second summer in a row that bear alerts have been issued for Pisgah and Nantahala national forests. In June 2021, reports of aggressive bears led to a temporary ban on camping along the Appalachian Trail in the area, from Double Springs Shelter to Backbone Rock Side Trail.
Wildlife experts say bears are taking an opportunistic approach to finding food in the national forests, using the supplies campers and hikers bring with them. The predators are relentless, too, and “will often stay in the area of the incident for multiple hours,” the Forest Service says.
North Carolina’s most recent bear-attack fatality was a 2020 incident involved an Illinois man killed while camping in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, McClatchy News reported.
In September 2021, a couple was injured by a bear along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, the National Park Service reports.
“The couple was having a picnic on a grassy hill near the Folk Art Center, when they were alerted to a bear by their dog,” NPS officials said in a news release.
“Over the next several minutes, there were repeated attacks by the bear while the couple retreated with their dog to the safety of their vehicle. The couple drove to Mission Hospital where they were both treated for their injuries and released.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Bears seen circling campsites for hours, prompting alerts in North Carolina mountains."