As an old rancher in West TX I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the 576 acre preserve, were talking less than one square mile. Now I understand it’s different terrain but dang that’s small!
“.. 576 acre preserve, were talking less than one square mile. Now I understand it’s different terrain but dang that’s small!”......
Yes, compared to some Texas ranches the “preserve” is small but the article didn’t say what the surrounding territory and wooded areas might be in size. A bear will travel a great distance for food and from what this article states, food might have been the motive for the attack and killing. The preserve was a place where the human “food” was concentrated, hence the bear going there for, lets say, “easy pickings”. Where I live (In central Wisconsin) bears are quite common and move from one wooded area to another all the time. I have had them in my own yard at different times. So far, most bear around here have not yet been aggressive enough to feed on humans.
This is my neck of the woods. I hike enough that I’m averaging 15 or so bear interactions a year. Including seeing a similar sized bear in August at the location of the attack.
I don’t think most people are going to worry about it tbh. It’s not going to effect me one way or the other.
The area is surrounded by other state parks, state forests, and reservoir conservation areas, something like 28,000 acres in total in the immediate vicinity. There are ALOT of bears in the area, much much worse than 20 years ago.