Are American Black Bear, People and Urban Conflicts Avoidable?

Summary: Are American black bear, people and urban conflicts avoidable in North America even as Unitedstatesian black-bear populations augment annually?

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

The female black bear cub admitted Sunday, June 22, 2025, to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, Waynesboro, Shenandoah Valley, north central Virginia, is referenced as "Black bear cub #25-2408;" the Center's veterinary staff sedated the apparently orphaned cub, took radiographs, sutured a wound on her back, bandaged her back and the abrasion on her right front paw, and started anti-inflammatories and antibiotics to treat the bloodwork-revealed presence of toxic heterophils, a sign of inflammation or infection; the team's placement of lavender ear tags on both ears officially designated the cub as "Double Lavender," according to "American Black Bear #25-2408," last updated Tuesday, June 24, 2025, on the Center's website (https://wildlifecenter.org/patients/american-black-bear-25-2408).: Wildlife Center of Virginia, via Facebook June 27, 2025

Are American black bear, people and urban conflicts avoidable in the North American countries of Canada, Mexico and the United States even as American black-bear populations augment annually in the United States?

American black (Ursus americanus) and brown (Ursus arctos) bears bear and bode no backslides even as American black-bear populations bide in decreasing numbers in 21st-century Idaho. Living with Bears calculates (Masterson:236-237) no American black-bear populations as of, since spring 2006 in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota. It delivers no black-bear population-derived data for Wyoming even as it describes as stable Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Tennessee, Washington as of spring 2006.

Living with Bears emphasizes stable- to increasing-numbered American black-bear populations in Alaska, Florida and Utah even as it expresses Kentucky and Louisiana bears as somewhat increasing.

Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New Mexico figure among Unitedstatesian states that feature increasing American black-bear populations.

North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin group with states that guard increasing Unitedstatesian black-bear populations. Animalia-kingdom ("living-creature," Latin animal), Chordata-phylum (cord/string-having," chorda [Greek χορδή] -ata; Greek φῦλον, "nation/race/set/tribe") Carnivora ("meat-eating," Latin carne vorus) order houses Ursidæ-family ("bear-appearing/-resembling, Latin ursus -idæ) bears. American black bears inhabit subarctic North-American boreal forests; coastal-Alaskan mossy-coniferous rain forests; east-Canadian, Labradorian treeless tundra; southeast-Unitedstatesian deciduous hardwood steamy swamps; Mexican dry, hot, shrubby forests.

People who journey through tree-full biogeographies and tree-less tundra justify judging American black bear, people and urban conflicts avoidable along public-access, recommended-safe routes at staff-operated times.

"Range map of American black bear (Ursus americanus) from IUCN; red (extant) and pink (extirpated)"; distribution data from "American Black Bear Ursus americanus," IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41687/114251609):
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

American black bears, known scientifically as Ursus americanus ("bear American") by Peter Simon Pallas (Fri., Sep. 22, 1741-Sun., Sep. 8, 1811), keep tree-canopy, tree-root, tree-underground dens.

Northerly high-tree canopy and southerly root-mass and underground dens lodge mature 4- to 6.5-foot (1.2- to 2-meter) head-body-long, 3- to 5-inch (8- to 14-centimeter) tail-long adults. Mature 2.3- to 3-foot (0.7- to 1.0-meter) shoulder-high, 100- to 900-pound (45- to 409-kilogram) males, 86- to 520-pound (39- to 236-kilogram) females munch animal-, plant-sourced meals. They need spring buds, leaves and shoots, fawn and moose ungulate (Latin ungulātus, "clawed/hooved") carrion, insects even as summer berries, bush-catkins, fruits, nuts, fish nourish them.

People occupying forested, wooded neighborhoods organizing outdoor meals, their outings without food-litter, food-trash outcomes orient one toward opining American black bear, people and urban conflicts avoidable.

Southerlier 2-year-olds, northerlier 4- to 6-year-olds produce May-August-bred, 6.5- to 8.5-month-gestated 5- to 6-, 2- to 3-pup litters, independentizable 17-month-olds if not accidentized, diseased, preyed, starved.

Unitedstatesian-killed brown-eyed, black-/black-brown-/blue-/rusty-/white-coated, sometimes white-blaze chested bears queue 40,000 annually even as gall-bladder-, meat-, trophy claw-, coat-, paws-, teeth-questers quit them of 25- to 35-year lifespans. Endangered Mexican subspecies machetes remains unrecorded even as 11 Canadian provinces and the United States record perhaps respectively somewhat more than 475,000, somewhat more than 450,000. Hamiltoni, white-coated kermodei, vancouveri; altifrontalis, americanus, carlottæ; amblyceps, californiensis, rusty-coated cinnamomum, blue-coated emmonsii, floridanus, luteolus, perniger, pugnax; eremicus; machetes sequence Canadian, Canadian-Unitedstatesian, Unitedstatesian, Mexican-Unitedstatesian, Mexican subspecies.

Master Naturalist Audrey Clark talking publicly and people telling Animal Control about transient bears, trending hunting/trashing/trekking responsibly term American black bear, people and urban conflicts avoidable.

The female black bear cub admitted Friday, May 2, 2025, to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, Waynesboro, Shenandoah Valley, north central Virginia, is designated as "Black bear cub #25-1199"; apparently orphaned, she was found "licking dirty dishes and eating scraps of food off the ground" at a campsite in Giles County, southwestern Virginia; the Center diagnosed her as "thin and dehydrated, with a moderate burden of ticks" and as possibly having pneumoni; improvement, including transition from mush bowls to solid foods, led to the cub's transfer Sunday, May 11, 2025, from a zinger (crate) to the spacious chute in the Center's Large Mammal Isolation (LMI) enclosure, according to "Black Bear Cubs #25-1125 and #25-1199" and "Patient Updates May 12, 2025" on the Center's website (https://wildlifecenter.org/patients/black-bear-cubs-25-1125-and-25-1199#2025-05-12).: Wildlife Center of Virginia, via Facebook May 30, 2025

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

The female black bear cub admitted Sunday, June 22, 2025, to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, Waynesboro, Shenandoah Valley, north central Virginia, is referenced as "Black bear cub #25-2408"; the Center's veterinary staff sedated the apparently orphaned cub, took radiographs, sutured a wound on her back, bandaged her back and the abrasion on her right front paw, and started anti-inflammatories and antibiotics to treat the bloodwork-revealed presence of toxic heterophils, a sign of inflammation or infection; the team's placement of lavender ear tags on both ears officially designated the cub as "Double Lavender," according to "American Black Bear #25-2408," last updated Tuesday, June 24, 2025, on the Center's website (https://wildlifecenter.org/patients/american-black-bear-25-2408).: Wildlife Center of Virginia, via Facebook June 27, 2025, @ https://www.facebook.com/wildlifecenter/posts/pfbid0nPQHaia8KmVuconjHfb4chNNtbf8Cwho2Qx8fqt2oektuBJ4HPuFVPCVzLE5D3tFl;
Wildlife Center of Virginia, via Facebook June 27, 2025, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1134323402058318&id=100064420070336&set=a.615845443906119

"Range map of American black bear (Ursus americanus) from IUCN; red (extant) and pink (extirpated)"; distribution data from "American Black Bear Ursus americanus," IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/41687/114251609):
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ursus_americanus_IUCN_range_map_extant_and_extirpated.png

The female black bear cub admitted Friday, May 2, 2025, to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, Waynesboro, Shenandoah Valley, north central Virginia, is designated as "Black bear cub #25-1199"; apparently orphaned, she was found "licking dirty dishes and eating scraps of food off the ground" at a campsite in Giles County, southwestern Virginia; the Center diagnosed her as "thin and dehydrated, with a moderate burden of ticks" and as possibly having pneumoni; improvement, including transition from mush bowls to solid foods, led to the cub's transfer Sunday, May 11, 2025, from a zinger (crate) to the spacious chute in the Center's Large Mammal Isolation (LMI) enclosure, according to "Black Bear Cubs #25-1125 and #25-1199" and "Patient Updates May 12, 2025" on the Center's website (https://wildlifecenter.org/patients/black-bear-cubs-25-1125-and-25-1199#2025-05-12).: Wildlife Center of Virginia, via Facebook May 30, 2025, @ https://www.facebook.com/wildlifecenter/posts/1111875564303102;
Wildlife Center of Virginia, via Facebook May 30, 2025, @ https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1111875564303102&set=pb.100064420070336.-2207520000

Not leaving food-litter or food-trash in urban forested, wooded neighborhoods helps to keep "America Green and Clean" (and also safe), as messaged by the most famous Unitedstatesian black bear, Smokey Bear, on U.S.D.A. Forest Service litter bags.
Smokey Bear represented the U.S. Forest Service in the Smokey Bear Wildlife Prevention Campaign, which launched in 1944.
The "real" Smokey Bear was a black bear cub sheltering "in a tree in the midst of a wildfire in New Mexico's Capitan Mountains in 1950," according to "Smokey Bear," an article posted and last updated Feb. 4, 2015, on the National Park Service (NPS) website (https://www.nps.gov/articles/smokeybear.htm).
Ray Bell, a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish ranger and pilot, flew the cub to Santa Fe for treatment of his badly burned paws and hind legs; the New Mexico state game warden premised the gift of the healed cub to the U.S. Forest Service on Smokey Bear's association with a publicity program for fire prevention and conservation; Smokey Bear was flown in a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser from New Mexico, with an overnight fuel stop in St. Louis, Missouri, to his new home at the National Zoological Park (known as the National Zoo) in the Woodley Park neighborhood, northwestern Washington D.C.; Smokey Bear lived at the Smithsonian Institution's zoo from Tuesday, June 27, 1950, until his death Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1976, according to "Get To Know Smokey Bear: Orphan Cub Named Smokey" on Smokey Bear website (https://smokeybear.com/smokeys-story/orphan-cub-named-smokey) and "Bearly Survived to Become an Icon," posted May 27, 2010, by archivist Tad Bennicoff on The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives (https://web.archive.org/web/20100608015101/http://blog.photography.si.edu/2010/05/27/bearly-survived-to-become-an-icon/).:
John H. Kerr Reservoir (Buggs Island Lake), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, via Facebook Sep. 23, 2025, @ https://www.facebook.com/JohnHKerrReservoirBuggsIslandLake/posts/black-bears-are-the-only-bear-species-found-in-virginia-they-have-a-natural-dist/1180577110761965/

For further information:

Bambaradeniya, Dr. Channa; Cinthya Flores; Dr. Joshua Ginsburg; Dwight Houng; Dr. Susan Lumpkin; George McKay; Dr. John Muscik; Dr. Patrick Quilty; Dr. Bernard Stonehouse; Dr. Eric John Woehler; Dr. David Woodruff. 2009. "Virginia Opossum." Pages 16, 95, 259b." The Illustrated Atlas of Wildlife. Sydney NSW, Australia: Weldon Owen Pty Ltd.

Clark, Fincastle Library Assistant, Poet, Prosist and Virginia Master Naturalist Audrey. 10 September 2025. "Living With Black Bears." Fincastle, Botetourt County, VA: Fincastle Library.

Dennis-Bryan, Dr. Kim; and Dr. Juliet Clutton-Brock. 2008. "Home ranges and territories." Page 138. In: Dr. Charlotte Uhlenbroek. Editor-in-Chief. 2008. Animal Life. Mammals contributions by Dr. Kim Dennis-Bryan. Mammals consultations with Dr. Juliet Clutton-Brock. Authenticated by the American Museum of Natural History. New York NY: DK Publishing.

Doan-Crider, Diana. 2020. "American black bears." Pages 184-185. In: "Bear." Pages 182-186. In: The World Book Encyclopedia. Volume 14: N-O. Chicago IL: World Book, Inc.

Dolson, Sylvia. Bear-ology: Fascinating Bear Facts, Tales & Trivia. Masonville CO: PixyJack Press, LLC.

Garshelis, David L. 2006. "American Black Bear." Pages 584-585. In: David W. Macdonald. Editor. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Mammals. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Hardeman Jr., Don W. 2023. Bears: What Do Polar Bears, Giant Pandas, and Grizzly Bears Get Up To All Day? A Day in the Life. Neon Squid Production. New York NY; and London, England, UK: St. Martin's Press.

Kalman, Bobbie; and Kylie Burns. 2007. Earth's Endangered Animals Series. New York NY: Crabtree Publishing Company.

Macdonald, David W. Editor. 2006. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Mammals. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 September 2025. "Are American Black Bear, People and Urban Conflicts Avoidable?." Earth and Space News. Wednesday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2025/09/are-american-black-bear-people-and.html

Masterson, Linda. 2006. Living with Bears: A Practical Guide to Bear Country. Masonville CO: PixyJack Press, LLC.

Searles, Steve; and Chris Erskine. What the Bears Know: How I Found Truth and Magic in America's Most Misunderstood Creatures. New York NY: Pegasus Books, Ltd.

Uhlenbroek, Dr. Charlotte. Editor-in-Chief. 2008. Animal Life. Mammals contributions by Dr. Kim Dennis-Bryan. Mammals consultations with Dr. Juliet Clutton-Brock. Authenticated by the American Museum of Natural History. New York NY: DK Publishing.

Not leaving food-litter or food-trash in urban forested, wooded neighborhoods helps to keep "America Green and Clean" (and also safe), as messaged by the most famous Unitedstatesian black bear, Smokey Bear, on U.S.D.A. Forest Service litter bags.
Smokey Bear represented the U.S. Forest Service in the Smokey Bear Wildlife Prevention Campaign, which launched in 1944.
The "real" Smokey Bear was a black bear cub sheltering "in a tree in the midst of a wildfire in New Mexico's Capitan Mountains in 1950," according to "Smokey Bear," an article posted and last updated Feb. 4, 2015, on the National Park Service (NPS) website (https://www.nps.gov/articles/smokeybear.htm).
Ray Bell, a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish ranger and pilot, flew the cub to Santa Fe for treatment of his badly burned paws and hind legs; the New Mexico state game warden premised the gift of the healed cub to the U.S. Forest Service on Smokey Bear's association with a publicity program for fire prevention and conservation; Smokey Bear was flown in a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser from New Mexico, with an overnight fuel stop in St. Louis, Missouri, to his new home at the National Zoological Park (known as the National Zoo) in the Woodley Park neighborhood, northwestern Washington D.C.; Smokey Bear lived at the Smithsonian Institution's zoo from Tuesday, June 27, 1950, until his death Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1976, according to "Get To Know Smokey Bear: Orphan Cub Named Smokey" on Smokey Bear website (https://smokeybear.com/smokeys-story/orphan-cub-named-smokey) and "Bearly Survived to Become an Icon," posted May 27, 2010, by archivist Tad Bennicoff on The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives (https://web.archive.org/web/20100608015101/http://blog.photography.si.edu/2010/05/27/bearly-survived-to-become-an-icon/).:
John H. Kerr Reservoir (Buggs Island Lake), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, via Facebook Sep. 23, 2025