A black bear from the Great Smoky Mountains had become a nuisance after people had been feeding her. The bear, identified as Bear 609 had been relocated from the national park in Tennessee because of her “food-conditioning behavior”, but has since traveled more than 1,000 miles for the last six months to return to her original home.
According to WbirNews, park officials had previously tried to discourage Bear 609 from being so comfortable around humans; they moved her away to the Cherokee National Forest and fitted her with a tracking collar. For the next six months, she walked more than 1,000 miles through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina – eventually returning to the same campsite in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park where she had been captured.
After returning to the campsite, she went to Georgia and was tracked digging through a dumpster. She has since been hit by a car, but she survived.
Bear 609 is reportedly back in the Tennessee park about 20 miles from where she was dropped off before her long journey. Sadly, there are few options for bears having to be relocated. Most do not survive more than four or five months, and if they become a perceived danger are often shot and killed.
Bear 609 should be a reminder that people should leave bears alone and NEVER leave food out for them. They are wild animals and deserve to live the way they were designed – out in the wild and on their own.
Checkout Bearwise.org for more information on bears.
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