Social media giving suburban bears undue attention

Blame social media for the bear frenzy that's going on in the Twin Cities suburbs.

Bear sightings have recently taken place in Savage, Burnsville, and neighboring communities. But the number of bears making their way through the Twin Cities is no different than other years, said Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Central Region Wildlife Manager Cynthia Osmundson.

"It's not really common, but we always get some bears coming through the Twin Cities every year," Osmundson said. "Nothing really unusual is going on. What I think may have happened in this particular instance this year is that, maybe because of social media, people have become more aware of the bears."

Some speculate that the bears in the metro are young bears pushed out of their homes by adults, she said. Bears typically do not stay in the metro, but are passing through the river corridors to find natural habitats after hibernation, she added. They get sidetracked by food sources in people's yards or around their houses.

"If residents really take those actions to remove the food source, the bear will have to move on," Osmundson said. "Because there's just really not enough natural food for them in these areas."

The bear sighted in Burnsville Sunday was badly wounded in the rear left leg, and matches other reports from neighboring cities like Savage, said Sgt. Jeff Witte of the Burnsville Police Department. Police ask the public not to go looking for the bear, but to call 911 if it is seen.

Police work with the DNR to keep the bear away from populated areas, Witte said.

"We first try to locate the animal and find out if there's a public safety risk or hazard," Witte said. "And at that point, we assess it and make whatever determination we need to do to obviously keep the public safe, but also, if we can let the bear keep moving, that's also a possibility."

He added that according to the DNR, bears are afraid of humans and will typically run the other way.

Bear attacks on humans are extremely rare and the DNR's Osmundson said she doesn't know of any instances of a bear attacking a human in the Twin Cities. There are between 10,000 and 15,000 bears statewide, and the DNR is managing them to increase the bear population because the habitat is available, she said.

• More: How rare is a bear attack in Minnesota?

Educating the public on discouraging bears has been significant in reducing problems, according to Osmundson. Last year, 25 bears in Minnesota were killed by officials as a result of being a public nuisance or danger. In 1985, nearly 400 bears across the state were killed for the same reason, according to Osmundson.

Contrary to popular belief, the DNR does not tranquilize bears and relocate them. Once a bear has spent a fair amount of time getting food in an urban area, relocation is not effective because the bear is used to this food source and could return, Osmundson explained. It's up to local police to judge whether the bear is a threat to public safety, which could mean causing traffic accidents, and kill them or let them move on, she said.

Even though people may not like bears in their neighborhood, sometimes a bear is not considered a public safety threat in the city, Osmundson said. "A black bear like any animal would certainly protect itself if cornered," she said. "But they're not going to go looking for a conflict with humans."