"Largely relieved of pressure from deforestation and hunting, bears are increasingly coming into contact with people".
"The swift rebound of bear populations in the US is presenting a growing number of Americans with a major challenge – what to do about the enormous hirsute neighbors that are breaking into their homes, gorging on their food and guzzling their cans of soda?
Black bears, largely relieved of pressure on their numbers from untrammeled deforestation and hunting, are increasingly coming into contact with people in places where the two species haven’t interacted in many decades.
“Bears are a good conservation story, but they are starting to show up in places that haven’t seen them in generations, 80 years or more,” said Jon Beckmann, science director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Rocky Mountain west program. “We are seeing conflicts happen in the west, as well as New York, New Jersey, all over the place. We want to see more species on the landscape but we have to realize there’s an impact on people when they interact, too.”"
