Tourists In This Popular National Park Keep Feeding The Bears And It's Ridiculously Dangerous

With its blend of ancient mountain forests and wildflower-filled valleys, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is understandably America's most visited. It's a place where, for people living in the eastern part of the United States, you can get there within a day's drive and see its incredible biodiversity along its numerous trails for free. Encounters with wildlife are part of the park's charm but also one of its challenges. Great Smoky Mountains is one national park where you're almost guaranteed to see a bear, and while it can be thrilling, it's crucial to not interfere. In August 2025, the park released a press statement noting that there's been an increase in people feeding resident black bears, which is both dangerous and illegal.

If you're caught feeding a bear in the park, you can get fined up to $5,000 or even serve jail time for up to six months. But the main reason you should avoid doing so is to protect both yourself and the bears. On one hand, getting up close to a bear puts yourself at risk. Even though black bears are normally pretty docile, they can get aggressive when they feel cornered or if they're protecting food or cubs. The park notes that there are over 300 reported negative human-bear encounters each year, with many more incidents that likely go unreported. On the other hand, by feeding the bears, you're conditioning them to think of humans as a food source. That makes the bears more likely to approach humans and get aggressive with them, and it increases the possibility that they'll go into more developed areas and get hit by a car.

Given that Great Smoky Mountains National Park sees around 12 million visitors per year and is home to nearly 2,000 black bears, the probability of the two species running into each other is fairly high. The park notes that black bears are most active between May and August, and, in the 2025 season, the bears have been even more active because of scarce food resources. That also means there's a higher chance a bear could approach you for food. The National Park Service recommends that, if you're out hiking or camping and you see a bear, you keep at least a 50-yard gap between yourself and the bear. You shouldn't approach it or attempt to feed it.

It's also important to store your food properly to prevent the bear from getting into it. In more uncultivated areas of the park, you can use bear cables to suspend food out of reach of bears while camping. If, nevertheless, a bear approaches you while you have food, leave the food behind and slowly back away — running can provoke the bear. In case the bear still pursues you, you should stand your ground and try to intimidate it by shouting, swatting with a stick, and throwing non-food items at it. Finally, one crucial way to avoid negative bear encounters in the first place is to leave dogs behind. Except for two designated trails, dogs aren't allowed on the park's paths, since most run-ins between people and black bears happen when dogs are involved.