by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
Top Picture Credit: Uvalde County Sheriff’s Department
Pictures and reports of Black Bears filled numerous Facebook posts over the last several days as officials stayed busy capturing a bear from a populated area within Uvalde County.
According to Uvalde County Wildlife Biologist, David Rios, black bears are not following immigrants across the border. Black bears are native to both sides of the Rio Grande, but today, they are more common in Mexico. Deer feeders and water improvements on ranches across the country side help facilitate large movements by black bears.
Rios said he responded to a call about a black bear located on a ranch near the outskirts of Uvalde was accompanied by all three Uvalde County Game Wardens and Uvalde County Sheriff’s Deputies Cruz Santos and Ruben Hernandez and Officer Max Dorflinger with the Uvalde Police Department came to assist who was, at the time, off the clock
“The problem with this particular bear was it was too comfortable around people,” Rio said. He went on to say the animal was a 200 pound, adult bear.
“On 9/28/2023 UCSO Deputy Cruz Santos responded to a bear in a garage call. After a couple of days of dealing with the bear, we are glad to announce that, with assistance from The Texas Parks and Wildlife Division, the bear has been caught and will be relocated,” Sheriff Rubin Nolasco said in a report posted from his Facebook account on the Uvalde Estates News and Concerns group.
On another Facebook post by an individual residing in Uvalde County, a bear could be seen in a small pond near some agricultural equipment. The location of that sighting was not specified on the post. According to Rios, that bear was one and the same bear which was scared off from the ranch property the previous day.
“We used cinnamon rolls donated by Whataburger to lure the bear into a barrel trap.”
“There is a saying, ‘a fed bear is a dead bear’,”Rios said. He explained it is very important for people not to get close to bears as they become too comfortable around people creating dangerous situations. These bears often have to be put down.
Rios went on to say this bear was quickly becoming sensationalized in the community and it was important that he and his team act quickly to capture and relocate the bear.
According to Rios, the good news with this particular bear story is the bear was captured and turned over to the Sul Ross Borderland
Research Institute and placed in a remote habitat away from people.
“It (the bear) now has a radio collar,” Rios said. He explained that researchers will now study the bear as part of a research project to determine what happens when we relocate it.
According to the TPWD article, Bear Safety, it states: It is a violation of law to kill a black bear in Texas, with penalties of up to $10,000, added civil restitution fines, jail time and loss of all hunting privileges.
The article also states that black bears can look like feral hogs and advises hog hunters to make sure their target is a hog and not a black bear.
