Around the state, black bears were spotted in 2022 near Akron in Northeast Ohio — one in Hudson and another in Copley and Bath townships. In 2023, a black bear was spotted near Obitz, south of ...

Scientists are studying the expansion of black bears throughout Ohio. For the first time in state history, they put a GPS collar on a female black bear in Ashtabula County, according to the Ohio ...

She attributed the state’s growing population to hunting regulations, as black bears became illegal to hunt in Ohio in 1995, and the current growth of forested areas in the eastern United States.