Rangers Are Ready. Where Are The Bears?

Union Democrat: “Yosemite National Park officials are prepared to use a new hazing technique to keep black bears out of campgrounds in Yosemite Valley.

Now, if the bears would just make an appearance.

Not that they’ve disappeared — here and there the bruins crop up to snatch an El Capitan climber’s lunch or surprise a hiker. But many of the bears in Yosemite National Park’s oft-visited valley are making themselves scarce so far this season.

A long, wet winter has produced more than enough natural foods for the animals, many of which are accustomed to foraging for easy snacks in mini-vans and lockers.

Also, many of the female bears had cubs this year and are lying low with their young, said Park Wildlife Technician Sherri Lisius.

Of the seven or eight female bears the park tracks in the valley, many are on the same birthing cycle, she said.”