• A young black bear was spotted traveling through DeSoto County, Mississippi, sparking discussion about wild bears in the area.
• The bear, likely a male, is exhibiting normal behavior by traveling long distances to establish a new home range.
• Mississippi’s black bear population is growing, with the bear possibly originating from Arkansas.
• Residents are advised to secure attractants like garbage and pet food to avoid attracting bears.

A juvenile black bear’s adventure through DeSoto County has produced photo and video across the area and sparked discussion about wild bears in Mississippi.

Now, more than a week after the bear was first spotted in DeSoto County, he appears to have moved on eastward to Byhalia and Marshall County.

But could this bear or other bears return?

Anthony Ballard is the Black Bear Program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. He said it’s possible this bear or others could visit the area, but noted it’s hard to predict what bears will do.

“That bear could turn north and go to Tennessee,” Ballard said. “He might turn around and go right back to Lake McCormorant, or he may walk to Alabama. You just never know. He may set up camp right where he is and stay there for the rest of his life.”

The DeSoto County bear was noticeably young and likely male. Ballard said it’s normal for males of his age to travel long distances rapidly in this way. While females usually remain close to their mother, males around 16-18 months begin to roam.

“So this time of year, what you see is young males, usually, that disperse a long distance from their original home range,” he said. “So it could be tens or even hundreds of miles from that original home range, just to just spread those genetics out, you know, into a different area. That’s kind of a biological way of, you know, preventing inbreeding and genetic problems. They’re going to just try to figure out how to be a bear on their own.”

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Ballard said the travel is instinctive — bears aren’t necessarily looking for females at this point or even going anywhere in particular, just somewhere to establish a home range without any competing males nearby. North Mississippi hasn’t seen a bear in years, so that certainly fits the bill.

While most of the estimated 150 bears in Mississippi can be found near the Gulf Coast and Mississippi Delta, Ballard hazards a guess that the bear is actually from Arkansas, meaning he swam across the Mississippi River.

“A lot of the bears that we have here in Mississippi came from population sources from either Louisiana or Arkansas,” he said.

It’s a good sign — as the population density of bears increases, the males adapt by going farther and farther distances to find their permanent home, even crossing large bodies of water like the Mississippi.

Black bear populations are making a comeback in Mississippi. They’re a historically important species to the state, with fossil records dating back 12,000 years. By the 1930s their numbers were devastated to about a dozen bears. Bear hunting was banned in 1932, and thanks to years of conservation efforts, by 2002 there were nearly 50 bears. Now the number is more than 150, though it is difficult to determine an exact number.

Bears are a protected species in Mississippi — harming one could lead to jailtime. If the bear has been spotted in your area, be sure to move inside your home anything that could attract the bear, like barbecue grills, smokers, garbage, animal and pet feed and even bird feeders. Do not scare or agitate the bear with loud sounds, simply wait for the bear to leave.

“I tell people anything that a dog can get into, a bear can smell even better, and they’re even better at getting into it,” Ballard said.

To learn everything you need to know about coexisting with bears in the areas that they roam, visit bearwise.org.

Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering DeSoto County, as well as Dining in the Memphis area. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.