ARKANSAS, USA — Recently, there have been several bear sightings across some parts of Central Arkansas, and on Monday, the Cabot Police Department put out a warning that said a bear is now traveling within their city limits.
"We see this pretty much May and June every year in Arkansas, and it's a sign of a healthy, robust bear population, which is what we want," said Trey Reid with Arkansas Game and Fish.
Reid explained how it's not as uncommon as you might think to spot a bear in the city and added that one even came close to his own house.
"From the video I saw, probably went through my backyard or very close to it," he said. "We don't want to see them in urban areas necessarily, either. But the silver lining is, it's a sign of a healthy population.
Though there have been several sightings recently, Reid said it's hard to tell if it's the same bear that has been moving across the area.
"They're not tagged, you know unless they had a tracking device. We do track some subset of the bear population. But this one is not tagged, so there's really no way to know," he added.
However, a lot of the photos show a bear of the same size.
"It's a small, likely year-and-a-half-old male, which is what these bears usually are when they show up in places like the middle of urban environments. They typically are males. And that's because it's part of the process of just what bears do," he said.
If you happen to see one when you're out and about, he encourages you to make yourself look bigger.
"They're scared of humans. They don't want anything to do with us," Reid said.
Though they do want some food, which is why he recommends bringing all food inside and securing your trashcans.
"If he becomes habituated and expects these free meals. That's when we get into situations where relocating becomes less of an option, and we might have to euthanize the bear. So don't feed the bear," he added.
If you do see a bear, you can report it to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. For more information, please click here.