Why bear sightings on residential property are surging — and what homeowners should do

The numbers, from the agencies themselves

Two states have published enough data to make the trend concrete rather than anecdotal.

Colorado: reports nearly doubled

Colorado Parks and Wildlife logged 6,129 reports of bear sightings and conflicts statewide from 1 January through 13 August 2026, compared with 3,115 over the same period in 2025 — an increase of nearly 97%, and on track for the most bear reports since the agency launched its statewide digital reporting system in 2019. That figure was reported by ABC News after three bear attacks occurred in three days, and separately in AccuWeather's coverage.

It is not only mountain communities. Denver's Westword reported more than 800 bear sightings and conflicts across the Denver metro area in 2026, close to triple the count at the same point in 2025, with more expected as the season progressed. USA Today characterised bear attacks and human conflicts in the state as reaching historic levels.

Utah: incidents doubled, and a record number of bears in cities

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources announced in August 2026 that bear incidents requiring a response had doubled from the previous year. The agency's game mammals coordinator described this year as having the highest number of bears in Utah cities the state has ever seen, and attributed it to weather wrecking the normal food supply. The Salt Lake Tribune added that a growing bear population compounds the effect.

Why it is happening: drought, then hyperphagia

The mechanism is straightforward once you know what black bears actually eat. Utah's DWR notes that berries, acorns and comparable root-like vegetation account for roughly 90% of a black bear's diet. A warm spring followed by hard freezes and then extreme heat and drought damages precisely those food sources, so the bears go looking elsewhere.

Then the calendar makes it worse. Wildlife officers quoted by USA Today explained that increased sightings coincide with hyperphagia — the phase in a bear's annual cycle when it feeds intensively to build fat reserves for winter. A bear in hyperphagia is working long hours at finding calories. A neighborhood with unsecured bins is, from that perspective, an efficient food source.

Two consequences follow. Bears show up in places with no recent history of them — Southern California foothill communities reported an uptick, with officials warning residents not to feed them. And encounters get closer: the Coloradoan reported a bear entering an Estes Park home through a closed window and attacking the resident, with officials urging people to stay vigilant and remove food and trash.

The attractant list: what actually brings a bear in

Colorado Parks and Wildlife states the core finding directly: most conflicts between people and bears can be traced to human food, garbage, pet food, bird seed or other attractants (CPW, Living with Bears). Maine's wildlife agency reaches the same conclusion, noting that many of the hundreds of conflicts reported each year could be prevented simply by removing or securing common attractants (MDIFW bear encounter guide, PDF).

One counter-intuitive but important instruction: if a bear has already been visiting, removing attractants once is not enough. The Michigan DNR advises keeping all attractants removed for at least two weeks when a bear repeatedly visits a yard. You are breaking a learned habit, which takes longer than removing a meal.

In some places this is now a legal obligation

Colorado tightened its rules in 2026. According to CBS News Colorado, a new state law shifted the standard for a violation from intentionally feeding bears to knowingly leaving food, trash or other attractants accessible to them — meaning wildlife officers no longer have to prove someone meant to feed a bear before issuing a citation.

Local ordinances go further in some towns. Colorado Springs, for example, introduced a requirement for residents and businesses in a defined area to secure trash from bears (city announcement). If you live in bear country, check your municipality's rules — "I did not realise" is a weaker defence than it used to be.

If there is a bear in your yard right now

The short version, consistent across agencies: give it room, do not crowd it, and never run.

1. 1

   Get everyone inside, including pets

   Bring children and dogs in first. A barking dog can provoke a bear that was otherwise passing through.

2. 2

   Do not approach, and never run

   Boulder, Colorado's guidance is unambiguous that running can trigger a bear to chase (city guidance). Wildlife Illinois similarly advises not running and not surprising the bear, noting a black bear is unlikely to attack unless it feels trapped or provoked (Wildlife Illinois).

3. 3

   If you are already close, back away slowly and leave it an exit

   Florida's FWC advises never approaching or surprising a bear, and if you are close, avoiding sudden movements, backing away slowly, and making sure the bear has an obvious escape route (FWC bear FAQ). A cornered bear is the dangerous case. Maryland's DNR frames the baseline well: a bear nearby is not an immediate threat and should be given respect and space (Maryland DNR).

4. 4

   From safety, make it unwelcome — then remove the reason it came

   Once people and pets are secure, noise from indoors or a doorway can encourage a bear to move along. Then deal with the cause: the bin, the feeder, the grill. A bear driven off from a food source it can still smell tomorrow will be back tomorrow.

5. 5

   Report aggressive behavior or a bear that will not leave

   Contact your state wildlife agency; Maine's guidance directs people to call 911 for an aggressive bear (MDIFW, PDF). Reports are also how agencies spot a pattern — Boulder noted awareness of at least 15 bears, cubs included, entering the city as they prepared for winter (city notice).

Our wildlife encounter guide goes deeper on response technique, and covers how black bear guidance differs from mountain lion guidance — because it does, and confusing the two is a genuine hazard.

The problem with all of this: bears visit while you sleep

Every recommendation above is easy to follow on the day you learn a bear is using your property. The difficulty is that most people learn it the hard way — a wrecked bin, a torn screen, or in the Estes Park case, a bear already inside the house.

Bears do most of their neighborhood foraging in the dark, and a motion-triggered camera facing a driveway will happily record the whole visit. But that clip sits in a history alongside dozens of alerts for passing cars and swaying trees. If you have ever silenced your camera notifications because there were too many of them, you already know how a bear on your deck at 2 a.m. goes unnoticed until morning.

There is a second-order cost too. Wildlife agencies are asking residents to report activity so they can respond before a bear becomes habituated. You cannot report what you did not see.