Wildlife officials don’t usually base hunting policies on how the
public feels about an animal. But the black bear seems to be different.
The revered king of the forest has bounced back from near-extinction to
being a nuisance in some areas. Some states are trying to figure out if
residents can live at peace with bears, or if they’d rather have hunters
keep numbers in check.
In places like the Smoky Mountains, black bears have always been part of the landscape.
These
days, visitors like Elizabeth Bryant of Ohio shoot video of encounters
with bears. As you can hear someone say in her footage, “It’s so
awesome.”
