A black bear that was relocated from a national park after learning to eat food from visitors traveled over 1,000 miles over 6 months to make its way back into the park.
The bear, known as Bear 609, started out in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, but had to be relocated due to “conditioned food behavior,” meaning she was used to eating garbage and food given to her by the campers. KMSP-TV reported.
After the park tried unsuccessful measures to prevent the bear from getting so comfortable with people, they were forced to move Bear 609 about 45 or 50 miles away in the Cherokee National Forest, where she was fitted with a GPS tracker and released.
Over the next 6 months, digital tracking data showed Bear 609 traveled more than 1,000 miles through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina before eventually returning to the same campsite in Tennessee where it was originally captured.
bear shot and killed at jacksonville zoo after breach of protection, seen after show
(L) Bear 609 (R) Cherokee National Forest
(Bill Stiver, Getty Images)
“She never slowed down,” Bill Stiver, a wildlife biologist who was tracking the bear, said. told WBIR-TV. “She just kept going. That was definitely one of the weirdest moves I’ve ever seen.”
After returning to the campsite, Bear 609 went to Georgia and was covered by a local TV station digging through a dumpster, and Stiver said she was hit by a car in Georgia, but it “didn’t kill her.”
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An American black bear
(Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Bear 609 is now believed to be currently sheltered in Tennessee’s Cherokee National Forest, about 20 miles from where she was released before her long journey.
Stiver said about two-thirds of displaced bears have died within four or five months, which makes it important to show people the importance of not feeding wild animals.
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Baer 609 traveled 1000 miles over 6 months according to tracking data
(Bill Stever)
“When bear behavior escalates to a certain level, there aren’t many options left, either move them or euthanize them, and for years we’ve moved them,” Stiver said.
