Black Bears Expanding Northward in Missouri? New Map Says Yes

It's no revelation that the black bear population is growing in Missouri, but will the population of these predators ever expand to the northern parts of the state? A new map share says yes and it's already begun.

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I saw this infographic just shared on the Missouri sub-Reddit showing a Missouri Department of Conservation map revealing where black bears currently reside in the state and the areas where they can and likely will expand to.

Note: the dark green are the core counties where black bears are commonly found. The expansion range is the brighter green and the light green are where bears have already been seen.

Black Bears in Missouri
byu/como365 inmissouri

The Missouri Department of Conservation has already shown that black bears are heading toward the counties surrounding St. Louis and the fact that bears have been seen and confirmed in the northeastern counties in Missouri translates into the reality that someday we'll possibly see the population become more common in that region.

At this point, it's not really a question of if black bears will someday be seen more frequently in northeast Missouri. It's now probably just a question of when.