!["What if [the bear] gets in the streets where the children are playing? What are we supposed to do?"](https://www.thecooldown.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/bear-sightingimage-rec3D4WrQjerm8uLv-1.jpg?w=1920&h=800)
A woman in Franklin, Louisiana, was frustrated to find her trash cans "repeatedly" knocked over in the night — but her aggravation turned to worry when a neighbor sent a video identifying the culprit.
What's happening?
Before seeing the clip, Cheryl Davis suspected "it might have been a raccoon or something" raiding her trash day after day.
According to Lafayette-based ABC affiliate KATC, though, Davis was horrified to learn that the "problem" was neither raccoons nor rodents — it was a bear.
Davis told KATC the footage made her more "afraid" than annoyed, and she expressed concern for her neighbors' safety. "What if [the bear] gets in the streets where the children are playing? What are we supposed to do?"
"My biggest thing is that I'm worried about the community. Not just my house, but the community," she added.
Why are bear sightings in residential areas concerning?
Fortunately, Davis' encounter with the bear was indirect — but that's not always the case.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries large carnivore program manager John Hanks explained that bear sightings tend to increase in the spring. A similar sighting occurred around the same time in Grandview, Missouri, per KCTV.
A Florida man was killed in an unprecedented mauling in Naples on May 5, according to the Shreveport Times. In April, shoppers were terrified by a bear sighting at a mall in West Hartford, Connecticut.
Human encounters with bears are unquestionably on the rise — prior to the Connecticut mall sighting, the state issued guidance to residents warning bears had "entered homes at least 67 times across Connecticut in 2024" alone.
Bear conservation initiatives are one factor behind the uptick in human-bear encounters, and Louisiana's current population of black bears is seen as a conservation success story.
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In January, the National Wildlife Federation's NWF Blog examined the rise in bear encounters, noting that "black bears are staying awake longer," sometimes "skipping hibernation altogether."
As for why, the NWF says rising temperatures, habitat destruction, and human encroachment are creating conditions like food scarcity, forcing bears into places they've historically avoided.
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Absolutely 👍 Warmer winters are a form of extreme weather adversely impacting bear hibernation. The wildlife organization reported that for "every 1°C (1.8°F)" increase in winter temperatures, bears "stay awake an additional six days on average" — exacerbating habit-related issues like food scarcity.
What's being done about the increasing number of human-bear encounters?
In addition to regional guidance like Connecticut's "State of the Bears" in 2025 and New York's bear management resource, organizations like BearWise work to help humans coexist "responsibly with bears."
Since bears are contending with climate-driven food scarcity, the most common advice to prevent encounters involves securing all trash to keep bears away.
In the event of a bear encounter, the National Park Service advises adopting a non-threatening stance and remaining calm. However, the NPS stressed bear attacks remain "rare."
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