Bears in Horry County neighborhoods are becoming more common because of increasing development through out the city. Officials from SCDNR said building new residential areas pushes bears out of their natural habitat and forces them to look for food and shelter elsewhere.
Charles Brown does construction in Barefoot Resort. He said he’s seen bears on several occasions.
“I’ve seen them cross the road like a deer,” he said.
In an attempt to reduce the amount of encounters between bears and people, SCDNR researchers have created a GPS tracking system. Kayla Brantley is the Unit Biologist for Horry and Georgetown Counties. She strategically looks for a place in Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve to put bear traps.
“I like to look around for if there’s any scat in the area or if there’s tracks in the sand from where they walk through,” said Brantley.”
After picking the location of the trap, she sets it up with corn inside to attract a bear.
” Ideally the bear will come in and when he steps on that treadle, the door closes and it locks,” she said.
Brantley tranquilizes the bear before taking it out of the trap and placing a GPS collar on it.
“The GPS data is downloaded directly by satellites and is sent to an e-mail account where I can go to my computer download it and see where these bears have been,” said Brantley.
They’ve already tagged six bears. Brantley hopes the data it collects will answer important questions about the bears movements.
“How are they moving, are they walking through these neighborhoods at night? Where are they crossing the roads at?”
The goal is to ultimately protect people as well as the bears themselves; however, there are some tips people can use to help prevent bear encounters.
“We recommend moving all attractants which can be trash cans, grease on grills, bird feeders and dog food,” said Brantley.
SCDNR has a form on their website people can fill out whenever a bear is spotted.