NC Wildlife officials urge bear safety after man was injured during an encounter
The North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission is urging bear safety advice after a Buncombe County man was taken to the emergency room after a bear swatted and pushed him.
By Itinease McMiller & Deanna Sipe
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WEAVERVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — The North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission is urging bear safety advice after a Buncombe County man was taken to the emergency room after a bear swatted and pushed him.
The incident happened earlier this month as the bear was leaving the man’s front porch in Weaverville.
Through further investigation, the NC Wildlife Resource Commission says food was left on the porch for feral cats.
The investigation led to the commission deciding not to capture the bear, saying it acted in self-defense.
Bears have been very active this summer. News 13 has received many videos of them through our ChimeIn app.
With bears roaming, they are on the lookout for things to eat, which means residents need to be careful of where they are leaving food and trash so as not to attract them.
“It’s also important to make sure you’re securing things like garbage and things like grocery delivery things with packages with food items, consider those items too. A lot of this is common sense, but sometimes we get tied up in our day-to-day or we get comfortable and leave these things accessible to bears. What that does is reward the behaving for coming so close to people’s homes, vehicles, and roads, which puts people at risk,” said Ashley Hobbs, NC Wildlife Resources Commission.
The commission says bear encounters are becoming more common and that feeding them can cause them to lose their instinctive nature to fear humans, making them more aggressive and putting yourself in danger.
According to the commission, the injured man has been released from the hospital and is doing well.
If in the case of encountering a bear, the commission says the best thing to do is make a noise to scare the bear away and give it an escape route.
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