5 bears hit by cars in a week in Delaware Water Gap in ‘troubling’ trend

Five black bears were struck by cars in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in the first week of November, putting park officials on alert amid a rise in wildlife strikes.
All five bear collisions occurred on Route 209, the highway that runs through the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware Water Gap, U.S. National Park Service officials said in a social media post.
“While vehicle-bear collisions happen, there are usually a few a year, not this many in a single week,” the post said.
The bear strikes came a few days after park officials recorded what they called “a troubling rise” in motor vehicle collisions with wildlife along the 20-mile stretch of Route 209 that cuts through the national recreation area.
Four additional black bears were struck in October, along with 11 deer, a coyote and three other uncategorized creatures, for a total of 19 animals. It marks a considerable increase from October 2023, when nine animals, including two bears, were reported hit in the park.
Delaware Water Gap officials warned park visitors to slow down and exercise caution on roads, spokesperson Kathleen Sandt said. Park police will be targeting speeders along Route 209 in the coming weeks and handing out more citations, she said.
“We cannot stress enough how important it is to watch for wildlife, respect and follow posted speed limits, and really pay attention while driving,” park officials said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear if the unexplained uptick in incidents is isolated to the Delaware Water Gap, which spans the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border, or if other parks have seen similar increases. It was also unclear if the recent drought, weather changes or other factors prompted more wildlife to be near the highway compared to previous years.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has also tallied a higher number of bear-vehicle strikes so far in 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023, state officials said. But, bear experts and advocates cautioned against making direct year-to-year comparisons.
Angi Metler, the co-founder and executive director of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, told NJ Advance Media the league doesn’t compare bear deaths between years, though it does track them.
“It’s apples and oranges,” Metler said of the numbers, which are difficult to accurately track. Every year, bear populations fluctuate along with other tough-to-measure variables like food availability and climate impact.
A spokesperson for the Woodlands Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary in Hunterdon County, said their team hadn’t noticed an increase in reports of cars hitting wildlife.
But Giselle Smisko, a co-founder of Sussex County’s Avian Wildlife Center in Wantage, said that their team often sees more injured owls brought in around this time of year after they were hit by drivers on darkened and busier roads.
If a driver hits an animal or bird, Smisko said to contact both the police and a licensed animal rehabilitation service.
“We find many birds survive the first impact with a vehicle, but do suffer injuries,” she said. “Leaving the bird on the side of the road and driving off is not advised.”
Lynn Rogers, a biologist who has spent more than half a century studying black bears, said longer-term solutions to wildlife run-ins with vehicles are more difficult to address. Some areas have wildlife corridors, which are often greenery-covered overpasses that cross over busy highways specifically for wildlife.
But, those crossings often “aren’t practical” in reality, Rogers said.
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AJ McDougall may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @oldmcdougall.