Rare Sighting: Black Bear Family Seen In Texas National Park

You don't really see black bears in the wild in Texas very often and it's even rarer to see the whole family out roaming around.

A visitor snapped a few photos of a mama bear and two cubs foraging on the road in Big Bend National Park, less than 300 miles east of El Paso.

The bears kept an eye on the tourists, (one of the cubs even seems to stop and pose for his pic), but, overall, they didn't seem too interested in them.

Black bears used to roam all over Texas but the population fell way off in the 50's. In the 80's, a project to bring them back began and there's actually a bear habitat in the Chisos Mountains. That makes Big Bend a place where you're a tiny little bit more likely to see one than elsewhere in Texas.

It's still pretty rare though and, if you do see one, Park Rangers want to know. Please let them know asap and take a pic if you can to make sure you really saw a black bear. (See the pics from the recent Big Bend sighting here.)

Though it's nearly impossible to tell them apart, two subspecies of black bear are thought to exist in Texas: the Mexican black bear (Ursus americanus eremicus) and the New Mexico black bear (subspecies U. a. amblyceps), according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD). Some individuals of the subspecies tend to be thinner and longer-legged than other subspecies of American black bear. - CHRON

Your report helps rangers track and protect them. Don't approach the bears but try for a pic or video of it, its paw prints or anything else that may help confirm your sighting.