Horny, Hungry Bears Are Wandering Into Residential Neighborhoods

You may have noticed some new YouTube videos of late featuring bears just marching into people's houses and taking stuff. Like this guy, who crawled through a California kitchen window this month, lured in by a bag of M&M's on the counter.

There's a reason for this uptick in bear activity, as The Daily Item ("Serving the Central Susquehanna Valley Since 1937") points out. Namely, the double-barreled issues of mating season and hunger.

The Pennsylvania publication cautions, "Several black bears have wandered into neighborhoods across the region over the past few weeks, and Valley residents should expect more of the same for a bit longer, a Pennsylvania Game Commission official said Monday." A Game Commission Official informs the publication that bear mating season runs from June through mid-July, so those big black bears are on the lookout for a mate [shudder]. While they roam around, they notice that more food is available where people live, so they then feast on anything, from birdseed in the bird feeder to rifling through your trash can or dumpster.

Then, if they get away with that first time, "bears can 'lose their fear of humans' if they find food without getting frightened and may come back for more." Which means that the owner of that California house had better start locking their windows and hiding the M&Ms, at least until mid-July.