Elmer Pumphrey, of the White Oak area of Haywood, was standing in the driveway of his home Tuesday afternoon on the phone when he noticed three bears — a sow with two large cubs — about 20 feet away. Pumphrey yelled at the bears in an attempt to scare them off, but the sow came after him. Pumphrey struggled with the bear, trying to drive it away. He was unsuccessful, sustaining scratches on his hip, until his wife came out of the house yelling, which drove the bear away. 

The bears left the area afterward, and according to Wildlife Commission Regional Biologist Mike Carraway, they weren’t habituated to the area due to human food sources and are not expected to return. 

“This is not a situation where the bears were seen in or returning to the neighborhood repeatedly prior to the incident,” Carraway said. “We think capture is unlikely. If we do catch a bear we won’t know for sure whether it is the right one; we will evaluate and decide the best course of action if we catch one.”

The incident follows a late September episode in which a Swannanoa woman was sent to the hospital following an attack by a mother bear with cubs. Toni Rhegness was walking her dog on leash at night in her front yard when she encountered the bears, which were attracted by garbage cans in the neighbor’s driveway. 

Heavy rains earlier this year have caused natural food like acorns and berries to become less abundant, spurring the bears to be bolder as they seek to bulk up before hibernation. Bears in the region typically den in late November or early December. 

Human-bear encounters are rare, as black bears tend to be shy and non-aggressive toward humans unless fed or provoked. People should never feed, approach, surround or corner a bear. Encounters are on the rise as more people move into areas where black bears live. 

To avoid bear encounters, store food waste and containers in bear-proof containers, remove bird feeders when birds are active, feed pets indoors, clean grills thoroughly and never feed bears intentionally or unintentionally. 

Learn more about coexisting with black bears at www.bearwise.org.