She made plaster casts of the prints thinking the Boy Scouts would enjoy seeing them. Little did she know that the tracks would actually turn out to be those of a young black bear. Saturday, Winford Popphan of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, visited Stevens and took a look at the casts. According to Popphan, during late summer and early fall, mother and older bears will run the youngsters off. With the drought, a scarce food source and the continued destruction of their habitat by development, bears, young or old, often find themselves in close encounters with humans.
Black bears require a large area encompassing a few square miles.
Most of the bears we see in our territory are just passing through and will wander off if left alone. The ranger said that problems occur when people leave out food for their pets, keep food where a bear can smell and get to it or let garbage pile up. The best way to avoid attracting bears, or any wild animal such as coyotes, opossums, skunks, raccoons and stray dogs and cats, is to ensure there is no food for them. Bee keepers may find bears destroying their hives to get to the honey, the ranger added. A simple thing like a bird feeder can be an attraction.