People were surprised and highly inquisitive this past summer when an unexpected visitor was spotted roaming through Greenhills and Springfield Township. A young male black bear was captured on doorbell camera footage and police video in the early hours of July 7.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) said it was most likely the same young male bear that had been spotted across Southwest Ohio in the past few weeks. It was thought to be a 2-year-old cub that recently separated from its mother to strike out on its own. Wildlife Management Supervisor Brett Beatty told WVXU young males tend to go on an excursion of sorts around this age, trying to find their own territory — and a future mate.
ODNR tracked the bear's movements for several weeks, starting from the first sightings around Hillsboro, then to Wilmington, Xenia, Beavercreek, Huber Heights, New Carlisle, Clark County, Springfield, Yellow Springs, Caesar Creek and then the Greater Cincinnati area in early July, where he was also spotted around Forest Park and West Chester.
Where's the bear?
After a few days, sightings around the Cincinnati area seemed to drop off — and while the bear still generated much online discussion — he appeared to have moved along, finding Greater Cincinnati unsuitable to his needs.
WVXU checked in with Beatty recently to learn what became of The Cincinnati Kid, er, Bear.
"He was there around Forest Park [and] on the north side of I-275 for maybe a week, a few days, anyways. Then he kind of fell off the radar, and he showed up again over in Clermont County, near the town of Bethel. We have one confirmed sighting over that way, and a few other reports that we couldn't necessarily confirm. And then, yeah, that was the last of it," says Beatty.
ODNR did receive a few reports of a young black bear further east in Brown County, but Beatty says those sightings, while likely, were not confirmed.
"He had quite the adventure there for a couple weeks," Beatty concludes.
Where might a bear be this time of year?
The good news is ODNR hasn't received any reports of dead bears that were hit by a car, for example.
Right now, Beatty says, bears are probably getting ready for their winter hibernation.
"Depending on where he ended up, he'd probably find him a nice hole under a stump somewhere, or a big brush pile or something like that; some sort of cover that he could climb into and spend a few weeks, or maybe a month or so, doing what bears do in the winter: taking a big nap."
While there's no set schedule for when bears might wake up, and there are lots of factors that can play into when a bear ends its hibernation period, Beatty says they usually start becoming more active in late February or March.
The future of bears in Ohio
Black bears currently are listed as endangered in Ohio. While the animals are native to Ohio, they were extirpated by 1850 because of unregulated hunting.
ODNR's latest report, released in November 2023 and using data through 2022, notes black bear sightings have been increasing. In 2022, 285 sightings were reported in 52 counties, 161 of which were confirmed based on the presence of evidence such as photos or tracks, the agency states.
Black bear sightings have been confirmed in 55 of the 88 Ohio counties since 1993.
Beatty says the agency is working on a statewide tracking project. Division of Wildlife biologists are working with researchers at the University of Dayton’s Gantchoff Lab to tag bears with GPS collars so they can track their movements and learn more about their recolonization.
The project aims to collar and track 10 to 20 Ohio bears in the coming years.
According to the Gantchoff Lab, it's likely that most bears spotted in Ohio are young male bears coming from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. They're unlikely to stay in Ohio unless they find a female mate. Females that establish a home range in Ohio are more likely to stay.
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