Black Bear Roaming Greene, Christian Counties

Conservation officials are still on the lookout for a black bear that showed up last night in a yard near Wilson's Creek National Battlefield.

Dayle Falmer was actually brushing her teeth last night around dusk when a 200-pound black bear walked through a side gate of her back yard and started feasting on her bird feeder.

"He climbs the tree and he lifts up on the hanger and that causes the hanger to fall, so then he comes right on down and he lays down on the ground and he starts eating," Falmer recalls.

Falmer then called 911 and a sheriff's deputy and conservation department official showed up.

But her home on West Farm Road 188  south of Republic is still in a rural enough area that they didn't sedate or trap the bear.  Experts say this is the time of year when bears come out of hybernation looking for food. But since the berries aren't yet ripe, the animals tend to look elsewhere like in Falmer's yard.

Falmer says the bear did leave after about two hours of roaming around.  Conservation experts believe this is the same bear they've been monitoring for several days.  It was spotted near Billings a few days ago.

But since he is a wild animal, they say it's hard to predict where he might show up next.
To prevent bears from showing up on your property, conservation experts say you should make sure you don't have any unsecured food outside your home, whether it's a bird feeder, dog dish or trash. 

If you do see a bear near your home, contact the nearest Conservation Department office.

See more of our interview with Dayle Falmer here.  



(photo provided by Missouri Dept. of Conservation)