Nice.
Bears are slowly returning to the woods of East Texas thanks to thriving bear populations in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, wildlife officials say. As a result, sightings in East Texas have been on the rise, up from just five in the 1980s to 54 in the 2000s.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department officials believe most of the bears that have made their way to Texas are young males. They will roam hundreds of miles to stake out their territory away from other males, which can grow to weigh around 350 pounds and stand 6 feet tall. The bears coming into Texas from Oklahoma and Arkansas are the American black bear, while those from Louisiana are the Louisiana black bear.
“Anytime you have bears moving into new country, the first ones to show up are going to be males,” said Nathan Garner, the department’s wildlife director in East Texas.
Wildlife officials are hopeful that females, who usually stay closer to their mothers and don’t travel as far, will eventually make their way to Texas as well and they’ll establish a new breeding population in the state.
“Once they get here in decent numbers, in the next 20 years, we’ll have a population eventually. They’re expanding,” said Christopher Comer, assistant professor of forest wildlife management at Stephen F. Austin State University.
I’m always happy to read a story about wildlife and natural habitats that aren’t about them shrinking or disappearing.