Warnings are being issued instructing residents to be on the lookout for bears who are leaving their drought and fire-ravaged forests in search of food.
“Bears have come out of hibernation,” Tristanna Bickford, a spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, told KOB. “They’re looking for food and water sources, and they’re traveling around until they find those.”
Dry conditions and the fires have burned much of the state has ruined many of the food sources from which bears eat, like grass and flowering plants. The lack of available food could prompt bears to wander into residential areas looking for food.
“While bears tend to stay in forested areas, they move around quite a bit,” Bickford told KOB. “So far this year, we’ve had confirmed sightings in Clovis. There’s been one in Ute Lake, in Santa Rosa, and then, of course, one that was just last week found in Deming.”
A bear cub was spotted at a city park in Deming early last week. The cub wound up in someone’s yard and attacked their dog. Officials say the panicked bear climbed up a tree where rescuers used tranquilizer darts to bring the bear back to the ground. The bear was later released back into the forest.
Experts say bears are not typically dangerous unless they have to defend themselves or their cubs.
“It’s best to observe what the bear is doing,” Bickford told KOB. “If the bear just being a bear and out wandering around looking for food and water, in that case, it’s best just to let it go on. Let it enjoy its natural habitat.”
Among the recommendations to avoid coming into contact with a bear are to keep trash contained, don’t let fruit rot on the ground, remove bird feeders, never put meat and sweet-smelling food scraps in a compost pile, don’t leave pet food outside, clean barbeque grills and stay 100 yards from any cooking area.
“We as humans can do quite a bit to help them keep moving through the area and keep up helping them kind of move into a new location where they can find natural food and water sources,” Bickford said.