Tuesday, Jun. 30, 2009

Young bear spotted, vanishes in Lexington County

Story continues after video player This archived video is from May 2008 sighting of a black bear in Gilbert.

A young black bear was spotted in the Old Cherokee Road area near Lexington about 9 a.m. but disappeared by the time State Department of Natural Resources Department biologists went to check on it within an hour.

“Our calls said it was a cub but it was probably a young bear that had been turned loose by its mother. The mothers do that about this time of year,” said DNR spokesperson Lt. Robert McCullough.

McCullough said once cubs grow to a certain stage, mothers leave them so the young bears can learn get along by themselves.

The bear alarmed occupants of Lake Murray Pediatrics on Old Cherokee Road, but no harm was done, McCullough said.

“If the bear is not tearing up anything or bothering people, our policy is to leave them alone,” McCullough said.

Sightings of black bears are increasing across South Carolina.

"They're everywhere," Skip Still, a state biologist who keeps bear statistics, told The State last year.

Since 2004, people have encountered bears in 36 of the state's 46 counties, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. In contrast, people in only a handful of counties reported seeing bears in 2004.

Two years ago, the DNR revised its population estimates of South Carolina bears to about 1,200 from several hundred. It based part of its revision on bear surveys.

Black bears, which can weigh up to 600 pounds in South Carolina, aren't typically aggressive. No one has been injured in the state by a bear in recorded history. But people should be wary when they see one, agency officials say. Experts advise people who encounter a bear to back slowly away from the animal. More than likely, the bear will leave.

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