REMAIN CALM IT’S ONLY A BLACK BEAR:  What you need to 
know regarding life in the company of bears [05 “…bears to 
live.”] Ahead on Passport to Texas. 

This is Passport to Texas

Black bear are threatened in Texas. And what might their 
biggest threat be?

02—That really is people.

Nobody intentionally threatens them, of course. But TPW 
Mammologist Jonah Evans says because the black bear 
population is sparse across the state, we don’t know how 
to behave…when our paths do cross. 

18— What we can be doing is working to make Texas a friendly 
place for bears to live, by educating people how to live with 
bears, so that bears do not become a nuisance. And to teach 
people that bears are not the big, scary animals that they think 
they are. They are relatively safe compared to domestic dogs, 
for example.

One way bears become a nuisance is when they associate 
people with food, and get into “trouble.”

23—We did have that happen in 2011 when all those bears were 
here. We had a number of bears get in trouble. They got used to 
getting into trash cans. Once a bear learns that people equal 
food, it’s really hard to teach it otherwise. That particular bear, 
we relocated it, and it immediately got into trouble again, so we 
had to trap it. And it’s living out the rest of its days in the 
Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. 

Jonah Evans says TPW’s goal is to ensure all wildlife lives 
a wild life. If you see a bear, contact your local TPW office.

The WSFR program supports our series and funds diverse 
conservation projects in Texas. 

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.




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