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A chipmunk sits and eats a tasty cracker.
Chipmunks in North Carolina are only known to live north and west of Wake County. However, a recent photograph submitted to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has biologists wondering if its range has expanded to eastern North Carolina.
It s no secret that a lot of people are moving to Wilmington. But could chipmunks also be en route to the coast?
“We recently received an observation with photos of a chipmunk in the Wilmington area. It is likely a case of hitchhiking, however, we’d like the public to notify us of any chipmunk sightings east of Wake County,” says Andrea Shipley, a mammalogist with the Wildlife Commission.
RALEIGH â The N.C Wildlife Resources Commission is already seeing a spike in black bear reports this spring. This comes as no surprise since the stateâs residential footprint has grown and people are moving closer into bear habitat and creating opportunities for bears to approach their property, specifically by leaving out food sources.
Colleen Olfenbuttel, the Wildlife Commissionâs black bear and furbearer biologist, offers some advice about how we can co-exist with black bears. She points to BearWise, an educational program the Commission employs developed by bear biologists from each of the 15 state wildlife agencies that make us the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA).