FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – Wildlife enthusiasts around the world can now follow the daily journey of Yosemite National Park’s black bears from their laptops and smartphones, tracking the iconic animals as they lope up steep canyons and cross vast distances in search of food and mates.
Park rangers told The Associated Press that they unveiled a website , Keep Bears Wild, on Monday showing where select bears fitted with GPS collars are heading. The tracking tool, which pings the bears’ steps from satellites, have already revealed surprises, wildlife biologists say.
“I think people are going to be blown away,” said Ryan Leahy, a wildlife biologist at Yosemite National Park who leads the project. “It’s our responsibility to keep bears wild. … It’s not hard to do. You just need to know how to do it.”
A bear’s location is delayed so people aren’t tempted to track it down in real time, rangers said. But the tracking collars alert rangers so they can block a bear from going to a campground or parking lot in search of food.
The goal of the website is to draw in the public so they know to slow down while driving and properly store food when they visit the park’s towering granite cliffs, charging waterfalls and abundant wildlife, including up to 500 black bears. Yosemite attracted more than 5 million visitors last year.