Black bears frequent the back porch of the home of Janice and Janney, a retired couple living on the outskirts of Asheville, North Carolina (USA). With a wildlife corridor passing through their property, they regularly find bears on their back porch attempting to drink water from the dogs bowl outside. I placed a camera trap on this porch and waited for weeks to capture this bear climbing up and over the railing from the forest below. The residents of Asheville are known for their close relationship with wild black bears and my photographs intend to investigate this interaction and how urban bears may be growing perhaps more intelligent due to the unique problems they must solve to navigate and survive in the urban jungle.
Cities Gone Wild
Cities Gone Wild is an exploration of three savvy animals: black bears, coyotes and raccoons. Each of these urban carnivores are uniquely equipped to survive and even thrive in the human built landscape at a time when urbanization is decimating habitat for less adapted wildlife. I tracked these three carnivores in cities across the United States, to reveal how they are using our infrastructure and resources to carve out a unique place in society that might help them survive an uncertain future. Published in the July, 2022 issue of National Geographic Magazine
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