Yosemite National Park and Yosemite Conservancy have tapped into technology to protect one the park's beloved animals.
Officials with the park and conservancy effort on Monday announced the unveiling of a website, coined KeepBearsWild.org, that tracks the location of the park's black bears and provides tips to people on how to prevent potentially dangerous encounters all in the effort to keep both bears and humans safe.
"People love to see bears, and protecting them is something we can all do," Yosemite Conservancy President Frank Dean said in a statement. "There’s a dual benefit here of helping park managers to learn even more about bear habits to protect them and raising awareness among visitors about what they can do to save bears."
Yosemite bear biologists use the tracking technology to keep a real-time eye on the bears and also prevent run-ins with hikers or campers. Delayed and interactive tracking data for some bears will be made available to the public for educational purposes, but real-time tracking data will not be shared in order to keep bears and humans safely separated. The delayed data will also be turned off during the months when the bears are in hibernation to prevent anyone from disrupting dens.
The number of bear-related incidents, such as vehicle collisions or close calls with humans, at Yosemite has been dwindling for nearly two decades. A total of 1,584 bear-related incidents were reported in 1998 compared to fewer than 100 back in 2016, according to officials.
The website's educational information, tips and fun facts is designed to hopefully help that number drop even more moving forward. Folks visiting Yosemite can keep bears alive by driving slowly, locking up their food and keeping a safe distance whenever they spot the four-legged creatures.
