Hearing tales of a bear in Overland Park and southern Johnson County? Well, they appear to be true.
Earlier this week, a black bear was spotted near the corner of 199th Street and U.S. Highway 69. Security cameras at the nearby Grass Pad lawn and garden center caught the animal on the property after hours.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks as well as the Overland Park Police Department confirmed the sighting, though little is known about where exactly the bear came from and where it ended up.
These kinds of bear sightings are rare, especially in this area, but state wildlife officials say they could become more common.
Bear was spotted in southern JoCo this week
Officer John Lacy, a spokesperson for the Overland Park Police, said the bear appeared to be traveling northeast because it was later spotted in an unincorporated area of Johnson County near 194th Street and Metcalf Avenue.
Robin Dennison, the store manager at Grass Pad, said it’s the first time a bear has been seen on the store’s property, and she didn’t see it with her own eyes.
A member of the public called the store to let her know that a bear had been spotted near the store. Dennison looked back at the security camera footage, and sure enough, the bear made an appearance.
In video shared with the Post, you can see the black bear approach the property, cross the street in front of the store, get close to the parking lot, disappear into a wooded area next to the store and then walk along the edge of the pavement.
Nearby bear populations are growing
American black bears have historically lived in woodland portions of eastern Kansas as well as in the Red Hills in southern Kansas, said Laura Rose Clawson, chief of public affairs for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
Since the late 1800s, though, black bears have been pretty much absent from the state, aside from an occasional sighting of them.
While there are no bear populations living in this area, bear colonies have started to strengthen in neighboring states, said Matt Peek, a wildlife research biologist from the state wildlife department. That has led to more sightings in Kansas.
They usually pop up in the spring and summer as young bears tend to be weaned and disperse from their natal home range between May and July. These year-old bears are looking for their own place to live.
But, he said, sightings have been concentrated mostly around the southeastern and southwestern corners of the state, with bears coming from Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas or Colorado.
“The bears that are coming into Kansas are dispersing here naturally from neighboring populations,” Peek said.
In fact, there hadn’t been a confirmed sighting of a black bear in this part of Kansas since the 1960s, Peek said, when one was spotted in the Lawrence area.
Other bears were spotted around the state of Kansas at that time, “probably associated with reintroductions that took place in Arkansas,” he said.
“We basically have not documented any bears up there in modern times,” Peek added.
But, he said, with more bears in the region, it’s possible more could make their way to the Kansas City metro. After all, a black bear was spotted recently on the Missouri side near a Grandview fast food restaurant. Peek said it’s unclear if the recent sightings are of the same bear seen more than once or if they are different bears.
“Populations have been on the rise and are healthy in Missouri, and so the likelihood of us having more up there is pretty good now,” he said. “With the increase in bear numbers in neighboring states, this is something that we should probably expect to become more common.”
What do I do if I see a bear?
With the chance that more bears could make their way to areas of Johnson County, Peek said it’s important to know how to respond if you see one.
The key thing, he said, is to leave the animal alone.
“Treat it like a wild animal and keep your distance,” he said, advising people to take basic caution.
Additionally, he asked that people be sure to report black bears if they see one out and about to the department of wildlife. The reporting link — which asks for type of animal, location, date and time of observation and some other information — can be found here.
In the case of the bear (or bears) spotted recently around the Kansas City metro, the wildlife department relies on reporting from the public.
“We’re interested in additional reports if other people have seen it or are seeing it out there,” Peek said. “We’ll see what unfolds, as far as additional confirmations.”
If a bear is spotted near where you live, make sure to keep food and garbage put away so as not to attract them to a food source; that includes bird feeders and pet food you might keep outside.
“If you think of them like a big raccoon, they’re likely to stick around if they’re able to find these food sources,” Peek said. “You don’t want them to get habituated to food sources that people are directly providing like that, or then they become a problem.”
Bears that get used to finding human food have been known to start breaking into cars or getting into people’s houses.
“Not providing food is an important part of being able to live with and get along with bears,” Peek said.
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