Bears Raid Campsites After Dry Summer Makes Wild Food Scarce

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. (AP) — A shortage of wild foods after the dry summer has led hungry bears to seek easy meals around campsites in the Adirondacks.

Dave Winchell of the Department of Environmental Conservation's Adirondack office tells the Glens Falls Post-Star that there were 330 reports of bear incidents in the region last week. He says that's higher than usual.

At the Saranac Lake Islands campground run by DEC, more than 50 incidents involving bears have been reported. One bear was so persistent that DEC officers killed it after it refused to leave a campsite after hours of hazing.

Winchell says the 11-year-old bear that was killed at Saranac Lake was previously trapped and relocated in 2016 after it kept raiding the Eighth Lake campground in Hamilton County.