If you ever thought that Interstate 44 was a bear boundary in Missouri, think again.
It’s becoming more common for bears to wander beyond the forested areas south of I-44 and head north and east, extending to some parts of the St. Louis region, including Ballwin and Eureka. In fact, a bear stumbled into Most Sacred Heart grade school in Eureka in May.
“It’s a very new thing for folks to hear about a sighting in their town,” said Laura Conlee. Yes, she is a bear biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
The black bear population in Missouri, estimated at 300-350 in 2010, is now put at somewhere between 540 and 840 bears, Conlee said.
Mostly, she said, the bears that people might see around the St. Louis region are just passing through. But they’re likely to stop for a good meal. And if it’s good enough for a raccoon, chances are it’s good enough for a bear.
And Conlee’s job, in part, is to make sure people know how to keep their neighborhoods from being too attractive to bears. The conservation department was holding an open house on bears at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center in Kirkwood on Tuesday night to talk about the department’s bear management efforts, potential future bear hunts and how to handle human-bear conflict.
The state especially wants public input on its draft plan for black bear management, a 10-year plan for research and human-bear conflict mitigation.
Though black bears typically stick to a diet of tree nuts, berries and small insects in the wild, open-food sources such as bird feeders or trash cans are too tempting to pass by. So to avoid bear visits? Keep food containers closed and don’t offer any scraps.
“A fed bear is a dead bear,” she said.
If someone sees a bear, Conlee said, it can be reported on the department’s website. Resist the temptation to move closer for a selfie.
“Photo opportunities for some are very tempting,” Conlee said.
This article was originally published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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