Memorial Day 2018: Tourists, Bears Head To NC Beach. Yes, Bears.

DUCK, NC — The Memorial Day holiday weekend is the unofficial launch of summer, which means throngs of North Carolinians will be headed to the beach. This year, however, travelers headed to the Outer Banks have a bit more to keep their eye out for than jelly fish and sunburns after bears have been spotted roaming the beach.

“There have been bear sightings,” the Town of Duck Police said May 24 warned in a tweet that included a photo of a bear wandering along the shore. “Please adhere to direction from Town of Duck postings. Take a moment to inform yourself with proper actions around all wildlife. Your job is notification upon sightings.

The bear warning comes just days after the Cape Hatteras National Seashore warned that a timber rattlesnakes were spotted, including one near a staff entrance to the Bodie Island Light Station. The rattlesnake sighting comes less than a year after a rattlesnake was spotted on the beach at Ocracoke last August.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

According to Our State magazine, bears call at least 60 percent of the Tar Heel state home and for years have been making a comeback along the coast in swamp forests. “In fact, the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula has one of the densest black bear populations on earth,” the magazine said.

Photo courtesy of Town of Duck Police