Wildlife activity increases across North Carolina as spring approaches
BRUNSWICK COUNTY (WWAY) — The days are getting longer and warmer as spring quickly approaches, and people aren’t the only ones becoming more active.
Imagine waking up and seeing a bear in your backyard.
Wildlife experts say warmer temperatures and longer days trigger natural instincts in many animals across the state.
“Once the spring comes around, wildlife is starting to move a lot more frequently, and so are we as humans; we’re getting outside, we’re seeing them, we’re coming into more contact with them,” said Gregory Godwin.
Gregory Godwin, the District Four Wildlife Conservation Biologist for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, says this means more movement for species like deer, coyotes, snakes, and foxes as they search for food, establish territory, and begin their breeding season.
“Most of the species, springtime comes around, that’s their time where they’re reproducing, going through that phase, so, of course, they’re doing different things to protect themselves and also their young that are being born. Whether that’s collecting food to feed them, collecting food for themselves, just trying to prepare any way possible for being a parent,” said Godwin.
Deer give birth in the spring, and does may leave fawns alone while they look for food, and officials say this is normal; the mother will return.
Coyotes are also more active this time of year, as males seek mates and females hunt to feed their pups.
Wildlife officials urge pet owners to watch small animals closely and keep them on a leash since coyotes may see them as prey.
Godwin says another common species that comes out to play when the weather warms up is snakes.
“Once we get above 60 degrees, our snakes are going to, frequently above 60, we’ll start seeing more and more of the snakes moving around,” says Godwin.
Foxes also become more active in the spring, venturing out more often during the day to provide for their young, or “kits.”
Godwin says these are normal during this time of the year.
“A lot of people associate seeing them, daylight sightings of foxes, that it’s automatically rabies, and that’s not always the case, there’s usually some sort of circumstance that’s leading to it, whether it’s trying to feed for it’s pups or it knows where the food source is and it’s trying to get there,” said Godwin.
The NC Wildlife Resources Commission has a Human-Wildlife Interaction hotline at (866) 318- 2401, and here are two great sources for wildlife as the season progresses:
BearWise: https://bearwise.org/
GatorWise: https://www.gatorwise.org/
