Bear safety tips
While there is no way to prevent a bear from wandering into a neighborhood or the path of people, there are ways to discourage it from staying, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. They include:
* Never feed a bear
* Keep items such as grills, pet food and bird feeders off-limits
* Use bear-proof garbage containers, or store garbage in other enclosed areas until the morning of pickup day
If a bear is sighted, here are some tips from the DNR on how to respond:
* Leave them alone – they are usually only passing through
* Stay a safe distance away and do not try to approach them
* Never attempt to “tree” or corner a bear, as it compromises the safety and welfare of both the public and the animal
Also: Black bears may legally be hunted during the season, which occurs each fall in Georgia in certain areas.
Taking bears during any other time of the year or hunting them illegally during the season is called poaching.
For more information on black bears, visit georgiawildlife.com/blackbearfacts.
CUMMING — People on campus at two schools in Cumming may have seen an unusual visitor Monday.
Parents spotted a black bear on the grounds of Sawnee Elementary about 8:40 a.m. and at Otwell Middle about 11:15 a.m., according to Jennifer Caracciolo, spokeswoman for the school system.
“The parents notified the principal at Sawnee, who notified school safety. School safety notified the school resource officer, who was at the school, and he called the Department of Natural Resources,” Caracciolo said.
Students were brought inside at both campuses, as well as at Cumming Elementary and Forsyth Central High, which are near Otwell. The district also notified the post office, which is next door, and the Forsyth County Senior Center.
The animal was seen traveling along the property line at Otwell by the softball field before it scampered into the woods by the post office.
“We do not know if it was the same bear [at Sawnee and Otwell],” Caracciolo said.
Sawnee, which is on Canton Highway (Hwy. 20) near Dr. Bramblett Road, is about 3.5 miles driving distance from Otwell on Tribble Gap Road.
The bear caused no harm other than maybe shock, but it did serve as a reminder that these occurrences happen during the spring and summer.
“It does occur that we get wild animals close to the proximity of school campuses,” Caracciolo said, “especially with the [amount of] development occurring in Forsyth County.”
Black bears are the only kind of bear found in the state. After being nearly eradicated in Georgia in the 1930s due to unregulated market hunting, poaching and large-scale habitat loss, wildlife management practices have restored the statewide population to about 5,100, according to the DNR.
If left alone, the bears tend to return to an established range — the north Georgia mountains, the Ocmulgee River drainage system in central Georgia and the Okefenokee Swamp in the state’s southeastern corner.
However, “even as wild land and urban areas increasingly overlap, bear range likely will continue to expand, meaning even more sightings are possible.”
“Unless there is evidence of aggressive behavior or habituation to people, there is no cause for alarm,” said Adam Hammond, state bear biologist with the DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division.
In most cases, bears found outside of established range are young males looking for their own territory after leaving the protection of their mother.