We love our bears in East Tennessee, no question, and are used to seeing them wandering around in the usual and not so usual places. But that's mostly in the warmer months.
In the last few weeks, we've gotten reports and video of a bear breaking into a tourist's car in Gatlinburg and a whole group of them roaming a hillside on Ski Mountain Road. In December, one bear even wandered around the UT campus in Knoxville and was finally captured in the baseball stadium.
But it's winter. Aren't bears supposed to be hibernating?
The general answer in most cases is yes, but here in East Tennessee, that's not always the case.
"I think the bears are enjoying this mild weather just like we are," said TWRA's Matt Cameron, "They're getting up and moving about."
Cameron said bears in the southeast sleep as much as possible during the winter but it's not your typical hibernation.
"They go into a hibernate-like state called torpor. The bears don't truly go into that deep deep sleep where they're almost comatose. It's more like us having a good night's sleep that we can wake up from," said Cameron.
The weather plays a big part in how much bears sleep as well as the amount of food they can find.
As always, wildlife experts warn people not to let your yard or garbage cans give them an easy meal.
"So we just want to encourage people to be vigilant even this time of year when bears should be in their dens. Keep trash contained. Keep pet food put up. Don't put birdseed up. The general things we normally preach" Cameron said.
Also, be on the lookout for bears as well as deer and elk on the roads.