“Drive with extra caution:” Black bear struck and killed in Bear Lake State Park

LAKETOWN, Utah (ABC4) — Bear Lake State Park officials are asking recreators to slow down while driving after a black bear was struck and killed.

According to a post from Bear Lake State Park, a black bear was struck and killed by a vehicle. The bear was hit on the paved county road, and it appeared he walked down and died on the dirt road that runs through the Cisco Beach area on the Utah side of the park.

Bear Lake State Park said that black bears were once native to the valley near Bear Lake, but “were nearly wiped out in the late 1800s and early 1900s due to overhunting and habitat loss.”

According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, in 2021, there was an estimated minimum of 4,000 adult bears in Utah, with an estimated decline in the population since then. DWR says it can be difficult to get an accurate total population number for bears.

“Seeing one return to the area is a rare and powerful reminder of the wild beauty that once thrived here,” they state in the post. “Unfortunately, that beauty is too often met with danger on our roads.”

Bear Lake State Park is asking people who drive in the area to slow down and drive with extra caution around dawn and dusk. They also asked that people traveling to Bear Lake remember that wildlife do not follow crosswalks, and have an equal right to inhabit their natural habitat.

“Let’s honor the memory of this bear by keeping our eyes open, slowing down, and respecting the land we share with the wild,” they concluded.