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A feminine black bear has befuddled biologists by finishing an epic, 1,000-mile journey throughout the South and returning to the identical campsite the place she was captured from. After a number of interactions with people, Bear 609 was relocated from Great Smoky National Park to the South Cherokee National Forest in July. She allegedly stole a backpack from a fisherman two years in the past and was recognized to eat meals off picnic tables. Months after her relocation this summer time, the bear finally made her approach again to the nationwide park.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Biologists weren\u2019t precisely floored that she returned to the campsite, which was solely about 50 miles from South Cherokee NF. What shocked them was the trail Bear 609 took to get there. Her collar knowledge and anecdotes from different communities revealed a route that took her by Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina earlier than returning to GSMNP. <\/p>\n
After checking again in on the campground, 609 hit the highway once more. She journeyed all the way down to Alpharetta, Georgia, the place she was filmed<\/a> at a shopping center earlier than surviving a automobile collision. She then walked again to the nationwide forest in Tennessee. Bear 609 will proceed sporting the GPS collar, and though NPS biologists haven\u2019t acquired knowledge from the collar in a couple of weeks, they imagine she continues to be alive. <\/p>\n Bill Stiver, a GSMNP wildlife biologist, categorized the bear\u2019s actions as \u201cbizarre.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe never slowed down,\u201d he advised WBIR<\/a>. \u201cShe just\u00a0kept on going.\u201d<\/p>\n Bear 609 is part of a decades-long National Park Service examine in GSMNP on how bears reply to relocation. Wildlife biologists have found that some two-thirds of relocated bears don\u2019t survive very lengthy after being transported and launched elsewhere. <\/p>\n \u201cThe outcome really isn\u2019t that good,\u201d Stiver defined to WBIR<\/a>. \u201cSome of the preliminary data is suggesting the majority of those bears are dying in some form or fashion within four months. Whether it\u2019s vehicle collisions, additional conflict, hunter-killed, and things of that nature.\u201d<\/p>\n 609\u2019s route is the longest recognized bear motion within the undertaking\u2019s historical past, almost 5 instances the space of the earlier record-setting 215-mile motion captured<\/a> in 2020. That bear was additionally moved from GSMNP to South Cherokee NF, and biologists nonetheless aren\u2019t certain what to make of those lengthy journeys. <\/p>\n \u201cIs it behaving like this because it was relocated\u2026well hopefully this project will help answer that question,\u201d Stiver stated. \u201cWhen we move a bear, we like to think they live happily ever after. I suspect that is not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n