Are there bears in iowa

Most of the sightings start in late May and continue into July. The DNR says bears are typically nocturnal but get more active during the June to July breeding season, especially at dawn and dusk. In June , a black bear was spotted roaming a cornfield in Delmar. DNR officials had to warn residents not to follow the bear, even to take photos from a distance. For more information, go to bearwise. Skip to content. First Alert Weather. First Alert Pinpoint Radar. Weather Radio. However, grizzly bears actually have an average of inch paws, not even including the claws.

But here in Iowa, we don't realize how big grizzlies and other bears are. We just don't get to see them unless we're out a zoo or traveling. Black bears are native to the state of Iowa. Before European settlement, these bears were widespread in the Midwest, and they were documented in 48 counties mostly in eastern Iowa before The last historical documentation of a pre black bear being shot was actually near Spirit Lake, in the year During colonization, bears were killed because they damaged crops and harassed and killed livestock, and they were also valuable as food and for fur.

Because of overhunting during settlement, the black bear was extirpated in Iowa. Extirpated means a species no longer survives in an area, usually due to human persecution or habitat destruction, but it is not completely extinct in the world.

Regulation of the killing of bears in the 20th century helped create viable or healthy populations in states around Iowa, such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. Iowa does not have a current breeding population of black bears, and those appearing in eastern counties are usually coming from surrounding states.

Lewis and Clark encountered grizzly bears on their expedition in , but it was after they had passed through Iowa. They saw tracks of a large bear in what is now North and South Dakota, and they first came into contact with two brown bears in what is now Antelope, Montana.

They blog at windingpathways. Erin Murphy News Apr. Erin Murphy News Mar. Orlan Love. Outdoors Nov. By John Lawrence Hanson - correspondent. Outdoors Oct.

Health Care and Medicine Nov. Grace King. K Education Nov. Marissa Payne. Local Government Nov. Erin Jordan.

Energy Nov. Environmental News Oct. James Q. Todd Dorman. Staff Columnists Oct. Ogden K. Pilcher John Steppe. Daily News Podcast. Daily Newsletters. Log out. Daily News Podcast Daily Newsletters. More Stories. Latest Newscasts. DNR: Black bear population likely to expand in Iowa. Updated: May. Share on Facebook. Email This Link. Share on Twitter. Share on Pinterest. Share on LinkedIn. Most Read. Ex-Iowa trooper facing federal charge over traffic stop.

Windy and much colder over the next few days. City of Moline confirms it was victim of phishing scam in December.