Atlanta

State develops 10-year plan to help with bear problem in metro Atlanta

ATLANTA — If it seems to you there are more black bears wandering into metro Atlanta, there are.

That is just one of the reasons the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has come up with a new management plan for black bears which they expect to take effect in December.

Channel 2 Action News has reported how bears have shown up in many suburban neighborhoods, even one that was hanging around outside the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.

DNR got input from residents at several public hearings and now they've developed a plan they believe will be good for bears and people.

“There are more bears now in north Georgia than there have been since precolonial times,” DNR Wildlife Biologist Tina Johannsen said.

Not only is the bear population growing, so is the human population in north Georgia.

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People leaving food items outside is attracting more and more of those bears to the suburbs and city.

"It used to be, 10 years ago, if you heard about a bear in the metro area, that was unusual," Johannsen told Channel 2's Carol Sbarge.

The 10-year bear plan includes monitoring bear population trends and buying or leasing more land to improve public hunting opportunities.

A big part of the plan includes educating people about bears, even hiring a biologist who will focus specifically on metro Atlanta.

“If you cannot feed those bears, that's the No. 1 thing,” Johannsen said.

Johannsen says that includes leaving out things we don't even think about, such as pet food or dirty grills or bird food in a bird feeder.

“We're proactively reaching out to city governments, different citizen organizations, to let people know you don't need to be very afraid of bears, but you do need to be very respectful of bears,” Johannsen told Sbarge.

DNR said once bears get used to getting easy food in populated neighborhoods, they can't be returned to their old habitat. They lose their fear of humans and return.

“There's nowhere in Georgia remote enough for us to release a bear and expect it to stay there,” Johannsen said.

DNR has also developed a specific black bear plan for central Georgia and one for south Georgia.