FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A Fayetteville man snapped a picture of a black bear in his backyard Thursday morning, just feet away from his window.
Matt Perrine said during a work meeting in his home office, he glanced up and saw the bear sniffing around in his yard.
Though Perrine says he and his wife see some wildlife around their home near the Fayetteville Country Club, they have never encountered a bear.
“We're not outside of town. I mean, we're basically a couple blocks off of South School Avenue,” Perrine said. “So, I mean, not far from civilization— it's just surprising.”
This comes after several black bear sightings in Fayetteville this summer.
Steve Dunlap, a regional educator with Arkansas Game and Fish says that this time of year, bear sightings are more common than you might think.
“When a cub is born, it spends the entire year with it's mother, and they den with the mother a second time,” Dunlap said. “Afterwards, the males are driven away. So the bears that end up in towns and roaming around and that kind of thing are normally subadult bears that are males looking for new territory.”
Dunlap says they generally do not pose a threat to people.
“In Arkansas, we only have one species, which is the black bear. They are known for being very skittish, for having a natural fear of people and for being lazy,” Dunlap said. “All they care about is resting and eating as much as they can and resting some more.”
Dunlap adds that bears often follow the scent of food.
“The only reason why a bear is going to want to get into your car or want to get into your barn is if there is a lot of food in it that they want. So if you eliminate the food source you eliminate the bears want to be there,” Dunlap said.
He suggests keeping pets safely confined and not leaving food, and trash where bears can reach it.
If you do encounter one, he says interactions are typically very brief.
“No cause for alarm. It's actually a really neat wildlife viewing opportunity,” Dunlap said.
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