Bear encounters ‘likely to increase’ as population grows

Franklin County is included in the bears’ “core range,” according to MDC. The county also “lies in that apparent path bears seem to be migrating northward by, and we have had a good number of sightings in past years (although this year seems a little quiet so far),” MDC Media Specialist Dan Zarlenga said in an email.

Bear sightings in Franklin County have been increasing over the past two decades. According to MDC data, there were 16 sightings in the county from 2004 to 2010, 20 sightings from 2011 to 2015, 25 sightings from 2016 to 2020 and 15 sightings in 2021 alone, although there were apparently only two reported in 2022 and none so far this year.

Zarlenga cautioned against reading too much into those numbers, however. He noted that MDC’s bear sighting reporting system “is entirely reliant on people reporting bears to us; if they don’t, it’s hard to know what’s going on.”

He also noted that in the southern part of the state where there is known to be a larger bear population, there is also more forest cover that prevents them from being seen as often. “So when a bear shows up in places like Franklin County, more people might see it, which gets reported a bunch of times compared to other places in the state,” he said. “This inevitably results in skewing our bear sighting map to look like we have a lot of bears near St. Louis, when it’s just a few bears that a lot of people saw.”

Despite being primarily concentrated in the Ozarks, “sightings and potential encounters with bears are likely to increase in the St. Louis region as the population continues to grow,” according to Zarlenga.

Bears usually come into more populated areas in search of food, Zarlenga noted, and the best thing to do to keep them away from humans, for their safety and yours, is to not provide them with food sources.

“The last thing homeowners should do is tempt them with any sort of food source, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally. Feeding bears is dangerous as it makes the bears comfortable around people. It can also lead bears to cause significant damage to property while searching for a meal,” according to Zarlenga.

“A bear that grows accustomed to obtaining food from humans can become a problem which could result in an increased number of encounters, bolder behavior, property damage and even the euthanizing of the bear. Tempting a bear to stick around high population areas with ready food sources also increases the chance of a fatal vehicle encounter, like the one near Festus.”

In addition to advising against feeding bears, authorities are also warning residents not to wrestle them. Following a May 30 bear sighting, police in Salem, Missouri, noted that, according to Missouri Statute 578.176, a person can be found to have committed the offense of bear wrestling not only by personally wrestling a bear, but also by advertising, promoting, staging or collecting admission fees for bear wrestling, as well as by training bears for this illicit activity.

“Please do not wrestle the bear if you come in contact,” the Salem Police Department advised.

For more bear safety tips and information, visit mdc.mo.gov/wildlife/wildlife-facts/be-bear-aware.