Bear Sighting Increase?

By an edhat reader

Has there been an increase in bear sightings lately? I feel like I’ve been seeing more warnings on Nextdoor and the news. Below was a recent one:

BEAR ALERT! #SantaBarbara
Bear in upper Mission Canyon – Last night around 1:00-5:00 am a @Nextdoor user had an adult black bear make its way around their neighborhood. The bear got into three chicken coops & killed one chicken and came by again a couple of hours later for more pic.twitter.com/tUADgQ1aWO

— Edible Santa Barbara (@EdibleSB) July 9, 2021