What to do if you come across a bear with your dog? How to stay safe in NC
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Black bears are found in about 60% of North Carolina and expanding into the Piedmont.
- Dogs featured in over half of human-bear incidents from 2010 to 2015, per Bearwise data.
- Keep dogs on a 6-foot nonretractable leash and carry bear spray when in bear areas.
North Carolina’s black bear population has made a comeback, and people are more likely to come across the bears than in years prior. You may know how to keep yourself safe while camping and hiking, but what if your dog is with you?
On Thursday, May 14, the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission announced that the black bears are on the move throughout Central North Carolina. The group recommends using Bearwise, an organization created by biologists across the country to universalize the advice people are given about coexisting with bears. The following advice is about black bears (grizzlies are a different story).
Bears can be drawn out of their documented range in search of food, or mates. The black bear is found in 60% of North Carolina, but can be found in places you might not expect, including a driveway in Durham.
Dogs were involved in more than half of reported incidents involving people and bears between 2010 and 2015, according to Bearwise. Just under half of those dogs were injured or killed, and over 60% of human companions were injured.
Jenna Malzahn, a black bear biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said it may be hard to predict what happens when bears and dogs engage, because the setting, personality and size of the animals varies.
“There’s a lot of variables that go into it, but generally dogs and bears just don’t get along,” Malzahn said. “You kind of need to be aware of that when you’re moving about with your dog.”
What to do to stay safe
Malzahn said that one of the most important things is to keep your dog on a 6-foot, non-retractable leash. Unleashed dogs made up a higher percentage of those injured or killed, according to Bearwise.
“Bears and dogs do not get along whatsoever, and so leashes can really save lives,” Malzahn said. “I will say a lot of the kind of human bear contact incidences we get are because there was a dog present.”
Sometimes, a barking dog may deter a bear. Black bears generally avoid conflict. But if they don’t have an escape, or feel that cubs or a food source are being threatened, all bets are off.
If you live in an area with a significant bear population, avoid walking your dog at dawn and dusk, and carry bear spray. If you see a bear, leave if possible. If a bear does attack your dog, resist the urge to rescue them, and use bear spray instead.
“I know that that’s a hard thing to think about, but you don’t want to put yourself in close proximity with the bear, and then have yourself get injured,” Mazahn said.
Are we seeing more bears?
Yes. Malzahn said that the return of the bears is a great conservation success. The bears were extirpated, or intentionally eliminated from an area, decades ago.
“Back in the 1970s we were down into like 1,000 black bears in different pockets along the coast and the Pocosin forests, and then in the mountains as well,” Malzahn said. “To be able to get back up to the population we have now is amazing, where we have bears all throughout the mountains, all throughout the coast, and now we’re seeing some expansion of our breeding population into the Piedmont region as well.”
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission keeps a range map of where bears are not only seen, but are actively living and breeding.
“It is based on evidence of breeding females,” Malzahn said. “You can have bears in every county in the state, you can find a bear in any part of the state. That doesn’t mean bears are living in every county of the state, they could be moving through.”
