Black Bear Sightings Are Growing in Rhode Island

There have been a half dozen black bear sightings in South County, Rhode Island and some of them have been some seriously close calls.

I don't know if picture taking would be what I thought to do if I spotted a black bear outside my car, but that is just what this woman did.

This bear encounter happened Tuesday afternoon in a backyard in Narragansett and according to animal control the bear actually tried to open her car door.

Open. Her. Door!

Luckily she was able to get in and secure the door, but look at the huge paw right near the handle...crazy.

I would lose my mind if this happened. But close encounters like this one are happening all over South County, RI.

The bears are awake from their winter naps and ready to eat everything in sight this summer.

And it seems lots of that food is being found in people's backyards

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management issued a release recently to remind residents to remove food sources from their backyards.

This typically means bird feeders and bags of seed for refilling them.

DEM Wildlife Biologist Charlie Brown says

Almost every call we get is related to bears taking down bird feeders. Be sure to remove your bird feeders and other potential food sources from your yards.

People have spotted black bears in yards in Coventry, North Kingstown and Narragansett so far and DEM says it is likely just one bear.

They also says bears can run up to 30 mph and are typically fearful of humans.

Hunger can trump fear however, so let's just hope this black bear stays full all summer long.