Ring Camera Catches Bear Raiding Bird Feeder in Cumming Neighborhood

A Ring camera caught a black bear tearing into a bird feeder at a Cumming home early Thursday morning, the kind of close encounter that has become increasingly routine as Georgia's North Georgia black bear population grows well beyond historic levels.

The footage, recorded April 10, shows the bear helping itself to birdseed before disappearing into the neighborhood. The Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division has repeatedly warned that bird feeders rank among the most reliable bear attractants. "Birdseed and other grains have a high calorie content making them very attractive to bears," the agency notes, urging residents to remove feeders whenever bears are reported active nearby.

Spring timing makes the sightings predictable. Black bears emerge from winter dens hungry and depleted, and residential neighborhoods on Forsyth County's edges offer easy calories. "Bears are hungry and ready to find food upon leaving their dens after a winter-time hibernation period," said Adam Hammond, state bear biologist with the Georgia DNR's Wildlife Resources Division. "This search for food can sometimes put them a little too close to people."

The North Georgia bear population now stands at approximately 4,000 animals, up from roughly 1,200 in 2009, with the statewide total exceeding 5,000. As the population has grown, the range has pushed southward into counties like Forsyth, which sits on the edge of the bears' secondary habitat zone.

Thursday's sighting fits a documented pattern stretching back years in Cumming. Three bears, one adult and two juveniles, once moved through the Polo Fields subdivision, with additional sightings reported in the Delamar and Oakmont subdivisions. In 2023, a young male bear settled into the Providence Plantation subdivision for hours, feeding from a deer feeder and drinking from a nearby creek while resident Lea Anne Campbell's security cameras captured the visit. West Forsyth resident Allen Key watched a bear destroy his bird feeder on Wandering Oak Way under similar circumstances.

Bear sightings have reached school campuses as well. Cumming Elementary, Otwell Middle, and Pooles Mill Elementary have all had documented encounters, and a 2010 video recorded a bear foraging at a bird feeder near Matt Elementary. The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office has issued public warnings about bear activity, including "several reports" of sightings near Majors Road and Post Road, close to Cherry Street Brewing at Vickery Village.

Georgia has no recorded black bear attacks or fatalities involving humans, according to the DNR. The agency's BearWise program, developed in partnership with the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, advises residents to secure garbage, keep pet food indoors, clean and store grills, and report sightings to the DNR. Full guidance is available at bearwise.org and georgiawildlife.com.