Thursday March 28th, 2024 5:42PM
5:31PM ( 11 minutes ago ) News Alert

Bears spotted in North Gwinnett: Public advised to leave them alone, remove food sources

For the fifth time this summer, a bear has been spotted in North Gwinnett County, and officials with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are hoping the public will heed their advice to make sure the bears keep their "natural fear" of humans.

The latest sighting happened Sunday at a home in Suwanee, according to a report in the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The DNR has gotten several calls reporting bear sightings in North Gwinnett, Operations Manager Don McGowan confirmed in an interview with AccessWDUN.

McGowan's advice for any residents who come across a bear is simple: Leave it alone, and — when it's safe to do so — take away any food sources on your property, like bird feeders, accessible garbage cans and pet food bags, the bear might be munching on.

"When you start providing these human-induced food sources, and they start to rely on it, that natural fear of people goes away," said McGowan.

It's not unusual behavior for bears to show up in neighborhoods in the warmer months, McGowan said, as the young male bears try to establish territories of their own, especially if they've been "kicked out" by the older bears in the mountain counties.

"They're typically wanderers, meaning they move quite a bit from place to place. As long as they keep moving ... we kind of let them go on their own, and hopefully they will get into more rural areas," said McGowan.

Officials try to avoid sedating the bears and moving them, since many of the animals don't survive the ordeal, McGowan said.

The DNR only does that if the bears become a nuisance, or become too dependent on food sources in more developed areas.

  • Associated Categories: Local/State News, Georgia News
  • Associated Tags: Buford, Gwinnett County, Suwanee, sugar hill, dnr
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