Blue Ridge Heritage hosted a program titled Living with Black Bears on July 26 to educate the public about black bear behavior, habitats, and how humans can reduce conflicts with the animals.
DRBA Assistant Educator Regina Flora, MS, VMN, led the July 26 presentation on black bears.
Held at the Patrick & Henry Community College site, the event was presented in partnership with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), the Southwest Piedmont Master Naturalists, and the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA).
DRBA Assistant Educator Regina Flora, MS, VMN, led the session, which was attended by about a dozen people. She discussed black bear habits, the reasons behind their growing presence in urban areas, and steps individuals can take to prevent unwanted encounters.
Flora explained that despite their name, black bears come in many colors—cinnamon, brown, blond, blue, and black.
“In our area of the country, they’re going to be very black or a faded-out maybe black color,” she said.
Black bears are found on every continent except Antarctica, she added.
“So they’re not just in North America, they’re everywhere. Because they’re everywhere around the globe, that means there’s more black bears in the world than any other kind of bear, because some of those have limited areas that they live in,” she said.
About 75 percent of a black bear’s diet consists of plant matter, such as berries, nuts, grasses, and fruits. The remaining 25 percent includes insects, larvae, carrion, small animals, and fish.
“Any time that there’s an encounter or a nuisance going on, it’s probably because of food,” Flora said. “They are driven by hunger, so the only thing on a black bear’s mind is food, food, food.”
In addition to seeking food, black bears also love water.
“You’ve probably seen clips on social media or in the news or something. Often people will look out and they’ll be out in their swimming pools, they’ll get in the kiddie pools, and then of course you can see them in the lakes, rivers, and places like that,” she said.
Though they will eat fish, Flora said bears aren’t typically fishing when they go to the water—they’re just looking to cool off and play.
“They just love water,” she added.
Flora explained that black bears seek habitats with a steady food supply—especially mast-producing trees like acorns—as well as good escape cover and den sites for females with cubs.
Although bears prefer forested or rural areas, she said they’re increasingly found in cities due to human-generated food waste.
“More fast-food restaurants, and they can smell that wafting through the area. More dumpsters, more people’s houses that have garbage, more people throwing out garbage, garbage on the highways, and around in the parking lots and things,” she said. “So it shouldn’t be surprising to find out that cities like Roanoke, Martinsville, and Danville have bears right there in the city limits. The more people we have, the more garbage we have.”
Flora emphasized that most human-bear conflicts are created by humans themselves.
“Any conflict—we’re doing that ourselves. And if you’re complaining about it or having a bad conflict, then you first have to stop and see, what am I doing? Or what’s happening at the neighbor’s house?” she said.
While some residents may follow all the right steps, they still might encounter bears if their property lies along a bear’s travel path.
“Because they travel the little path, like most animals do, just about every night around to the same area,” she said.
Feeding bears—intentionally or not—is illegal in Virginia.
“The law covers anything that you put out, like animal food or your corn fields. You put it out there, you were actually feeding the bears,” Flora said. “You can actually be fined by the DWR for feeding bears, regardless of whether it’s intentional or not.”
To avoid attracting bears, Flora recommended securing or removing food sources such as garbage, pet food, table scraps, or uncleaned grills. Compost piles can also draw bears due to the strong odors.
“While we like for people to compost, you might get to a point where you’re noticing that’s why the bear’s coming in—he’s smelling all of that,” she said. “The best thing to do about it is to reduce the odor because you are supposed to put grass clippings and dead leaves or something in it every so often.”
Flora also advised removing bird feeders between April and November and using electric fencing to protect beehives.
