Back in Black: Modern technology makes it easier to share evidence of bear sightings, but is it skewing our perception?
When we moved to Tennessee and first started going to the National Park, bear sightings were rare or at least they were rare for us. We were lucky to see a bear or two each summer. In the spring and summer, you’d hear stories of bears moving out of the mountains and into surrounding communities. Maybe a black bear on the strip in Gatlinburg or found behind some home in Maryville digging through trash. But those were the exceptions.
It seems like in recent years – both personally and through social media – bear sightings are on the rise. In the last two years going to Cades Cove and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, I’ve personally seen a lot of bears. In fact, I have seen more bears in the wild in recent years than in the rest of my life combined. Last year, on one trip to the Cove alone, we spotted more than 10 bears.
Social media and the internet is full of bear and human encounters, specifically, both in the mountains and in communities across East Tennessee. There were two reports of bears in different neighboring communities to ours last week. But that, at least, has been fairly consistent over the last decade or more…