Red Bear Dead Bear

Almost everyone I’ve talked to has told me the one animal they hope to see in Yosemite is a bear and I admit, they’re my favorite too.

Right now bears are active all over the park. Every campground gets a nightly visit that’s why it’s important for you to properly lock up your food in bear proof containers. Your car is NOT a bear proof container. Bears have been breaking into cars for food as small as Cheerios in a kids car seat.

There are bears who don’t frequent campgrounds and who are out foraging for berries and roots. These bears travel miles each day scouring the land for the natural foods they eat. Unfortunately this often means they cross roads with speeding cars and sometimes the outcome isn’t so good. The sign in the picture above means a bear has died here as the result of a tangle with a car. More often than not the driver was exceeding the speed limit.

The moral of this story is: store your food properly and don’t speed. My son and I love the bears in Yosemite and it’s always wonderful to see them. Lets keep them alive.

Photo by Andy Sternberg via Flickr