Black bear sighting in Indiana

[djm5971]

They're back!

https://www.wane.com/news/indiana/black-bear-spotted-in-southern-indiana/

[Dream Girl]

1. Aren't they pretty much everywhere? They thought were native to pretty much all states.

[Pobeka]

3. Two hundred years ago yes, but populations dropped to zero in some states from hunting.

Populations are starting to rise again.

I predict Indiana will allow hunting again. Hoosiers won't put up with a bear threat. (I grew up in Indiana).

[djm5971]

2. they were extinct in Indiana

Bears were killed off in Indiana and most of the midwest by 1850.

[nykym]

4. We have been visited at least

6 times this year in the lovely Hudson Valley of NY.
I think one came by yesterday to see if there was anything in the trash he might like.

[Bayard]

5. Looks to be north of Evansville

I think he's looking for picanic baskets.

[flotsam]

6. We've got both bears and libertarians in New Hampshire

and it is not working well:
By contrast, if you find yourself being attacked by a black bear, NO, DO NOT PLAY DEAD. You must either flee or, if that’s not an option, fight it off, curved claws and 700 psi-jaws and all.

But don’t worry—it almost never comes to this. As one park service PSA noted this summer, bears “usually just want to be left alone. Don’t we all?” In other words, if you encounter a black bear, try to look big, back slowly away, and trust in the creature’s inner libertarian. Unless, that is, the bear in question hails from certain wilds of western New Hampshire. Because, as Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling’s new book suggests, that unfortunate animal may have a far more aggressive disposition, and relate to libertarianism first and foremost as a flavor of human cuisine.

The black bears in Grafton were not like other black bears. Singularly “bold,” they started hanging out in yards and on patios in broad daylight. Most bears avoid loud noises; these casually ignored the efforts of Graftonites to run them off. Chickens and sheep began to disappear at alarming rates. Household pets went missing, too. One Graftonite was playing with her kittens on her lawn when a bear bounded out of the woods, grabbed two of them, and scarfed them down. Soon enough, the bears were hanging out on porches and trying to enter homes.

Much more-some of it pretty funny, here:
https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project

[keithsw]

7. They are very common to see

Here in the Blue Ridge mountains of N.C. My friend had a mother and 3 babies on her deck the other day