More Bears Wandering Into Your Backyard

June 12, 2006 — -- In Spring Valley, N.Y., residents were shocked last week when a bear ran through a housing development and up a tree.

The New York City suburb may be the last place you'd expect to see a bear, but sightings are becoming more common in residential areas across the country.

"We've had black bears enter houses when they smell people cooking in their kitchens," said John Watson, assistant commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. "They've entered garages to go after garbage and other sources of food for them."

In Colorado Springs, Colo., four bears slept in a pine tree in a residential neighborhood, and in New Jersey a cat chased a bear up a tree. In Florida, students found a bear in a tree outside their classrooms, and in Los Angeles, a bear wandered around Evangelina Quintaner's backyard.

"This is crazy," Quintaner said. "I was just at work, and I got like 14 phone calls saying to get home, there is a bear in your tree."

The bear population is on the rise. Experts say bears are more fertile today partly because they eat so much human food, and because fatter bears produce more cubs.

"We prefer that the bears stay in bear country in bear habitat in the forest," Watson said. "However, if they are enticed out by household garbage and other scents in suburban communities, we are often going to have conflicts with people."

Bear sightings in residential areas are also on the rise because more homes are being constructed closer to the woods than ever before.

If you come into contact with a bear, don't run. Experts recommend keeping your distance and then making a loud noise to let the bear know you are there. Make sure you don't block the bear's escape route, and always call 911.

ABC's Heather Nauert reported this story for "Good Morning America."