Virginia Bear Sightings: What to do if you see a bear and ways to keep them off your property

WASHINGTON – Northern Virginia black bear sightings have gotten a bit too shut for consolation this yr!

Over the weekend, video was taken of a black bear that was noticed roaming the streets of Tysons. One other video from Vienna exhibits a black bear strolling by way of a yard patio – inside toes of an unsuspecting resident!

Authorities say the sightings began coming in a couple of week in the past. In line with the Virginia Division of Wildlife Sources – bear sightings are frequent all through a lot of the state. The bears are sometimes attracted by the scent of meals round houses – together with birdfeeders, rubbish, and pet meals, officers say. They will also be attracted by outside grills, livestock meals, compost, fruit bushes, and beehives.

Here is what Virginia DWR officers say it’s best to do to maintain bears off of your property and what to do in case you see a bear or spot bear cubs close to your private home:

What do you have to do in case you see a bear?

-Get pleasure from and preserve a respectful distance! Usually, the bear will transfer on rapidly.

-If a bear is up a tree on or close to your property, give it house. Don’t strategy, and convey your pets inside to offer the bear a transparent path to go away your property. By no means run from a bear.

What do you have to do if a bear is consuming chicken seed, rubbish, pet meals, and many others. in your property?

-One of the simplest ways to encourage the bear to not return is to take away the meals supply.

-Don’t retailer family trash, or something that smells like meals, in automobiles, on porches or decks.

-Use bear resistant trash containers or retrofit your present container.

-Maintain your full or empty trash containers secured in a storage, shed or basement.

-Take your rubbish to the dump ceaselessly or when you have a trash assortment service, put your trash out the morning of the pickup, not the evening earlier than.

-It’s best to not put out birdfeeders between April 1 and November 1, however in case you do and a bear accesses the feed, it’s essential to take down your birdfeeder for 3-4 weeks after the bear visits.

-Take into account putting in electrical fencing, a reasonable and intensely environment friendly confirmed deterrent to bears, round dumpsters, gardens, fruit bushes, beehives, or different potential meals sources.

-If addressed rapidly, this case might be resolved virtually instantly after you take away the meals supply. Typically, the bear might return looking for meals, however after just a few failed makes an attempt to search out it, will go away your property.

What do I do if I see a bear cub on my property?

-Till mid March–Might, sows with cubs are usually in dens. Most small bears individuals see in early spring aren’t precise “child bears” however yearlings (>12 months outdated). They don’t want their moms to outlive.

-If a small yearling is in your property, the worst factor you are able to do is feed it. Yearlings have to learn to discover pure meals and never turn out to be meals conditioned or habituated to people.

-As soon as females go away their dens with 3 to 5-month-old cubs, they may usually journey in shut teams except one thing makes the feminine nervous. Should you see a really small cub, don’t attempt to take away it from the world or “put it aside.” When sensing hazard, a feminine bear will usually ship her cub(s) up a tree and go away the world. She is making an attempt to divert the hazard away from her cub(s). These bushes are known as “babysitter bushes”. In such instances, the feminine will virtually at all times return to assemble up the cub(s) when no individuals or pets are round, normally after darkish. A feminine bear might be as much as 4 miles away from the cub whereas it’s on the “babysitter tree”.

Name the Wildlife Battle Helpline at (855) 571-9003 to report a bear sighting.