By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher
On June 5, officials at the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) sent out a media release reminding folks in Middle Tennessee that black bears are now on the move in our area. Ten days a later a local fiber optics tech, Liam Waggoner of Tullahoma, spotted a bear cub on Griffin Road near Millsaps Road while driving in Moore County.
Waggoner says the cub seemed alone, but he suspected its mother wasn’t far away.
“I thought about running after it to get a picture, and then thought that probably wasn’t a good idea,” he says.
Since then, folks in the surrounding counties have posted about similar sightings. A Winchester man spotted a adult black near on his trail cam on June 16. A ring camera in White House also caught an adult bear wandering through a urban neighborhood and curiously exploring the homeowners back deck recently.
The sightings is part of a broader pattern TWRA has been tracking across the region. In recent weeks, bears have also been reported in Hickman, Dickson, Wilson, and Sumner counties — a sign that Tennessee’s black bear population is pushing steadily westward into territory it once called home.
A SPECIES COMING HOME
It wasn’t always this way. Before European settlement, black bears roamed all of Tennessee. But by the early 1970s, hunting pressure and habitat loss had reduced the state’s population to a precarious few — as few as 50 animals remained inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the 1960s.
Tennessee responded by closing the bear season entirely and establishing protected bear refuges. A long-running bear study launched in 1969 through a partnership with the University of Tennessee — the longest ongoing black bear study in the United States — helped guide recovery efforts. The approach worked. TWRA now estimates nearly 6,000 black bears across the state.
Today, bears are recolonizing not just from East Tennessee and the Cumberland Plateau, but from expanding populations in neighboring Kentucky, Arkansas, and Mississippi as well. The bears most likely to show up in Moore County are young transient males — pushed out by their mothers after their first year to find their own home range.
“It shows it’s a healthy population because it’s moving and expanding into that former range, but they do come with some conflicts,” TWRA Black Bear Program Coordinator Dan Gibbs said.
WHAT TO DO — AND WHAT NOT TO DO
A bear passing through a neighborhood is not cause for alarm, TWRA says. If a bear lingers, it has likely found an attractant — unsecured garbage, pet food, or bird seed — and will keep coming back as long as the food source remains. Black bears do not view humans as prey, but they will learn to associate people with food if they are repeatedly rewarded.
TWRA encourages residents to follow basics provides by BearWise — a group developed by state agency bear biologists that track bears across the U.S. They are recognized by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
Never feed or approach a bear; secure food, garbage, and recycling; remove bird feeders when bears are active; never leave pet food outdoors; and keep grills and smokers clean and stored. Residents should also alert neighbors to bear activity in the area — especially those with young children or pets.
Waggoner’s instinct — to keep his distance — was the right one, especially with a cub involved. Mother bears are rarely far, and a cub that appears alone almost never is.
Anyone who spots a black bear in Moore County is encouraged to report it through TWRA’s “I Saw A Bear” system at tn.gov/twra. Sighting reports help wildlife biologists monitor bear movements and better understand where the species is reestablishing across the state.
For more information, visit BearWise.org.•
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