For nearly 30 years, the Missouri Department of Conservation has been working to reintroduce and grow the bear population, and after several black bear sightings in Columbia, it seems its efforts are working.
Nate Bowersock is a black bear and furbearer biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
"Do we necessarily want to be seeing bears in towns? Maybe not, but the fact that we are seeing them this far north, especially north of the Missouri River, is a really good sign that the bear population is doing well,” Bowersock said.
The black bear was spotted outside of a Planet Fitness, as well as crossing Nifong Boulevard, and the MDC said flooding likely caused the bear to end up in unusual places.
“It would probably make sense that it was traveling along some of the different creek corridors that we have around the area, and all the rain likely pushed it out of those corridors, and then that might have led to it wandering into Columbia,” Bowersock said.
While Bowersock doesn’t believe there will be many more bears in Columbia, he said the increasing bear populations mean people should take steps to prevent encounters. He said leaving trash inside until collection day, as well as bringing in bird feeders and any other animal food from outside at night can reduce lures for bears.
