NEVADA, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Conservation said a black bear has been seen wandering in rural west-central Missouri near the Kansas border. The agency told the Associated Press that a state wildlife agent confirmed the sighting last week northeast of Nevada in Vernon County near the state line. Although black bears once stalked the forests of Missouri, they were almost eliminated from the state in the 1800s. The department saID some bears returned to southern Missouri after they were re-introduced in Arkansas in the 1950s. Most of Missouri’s 150 to 300 black bears are in the Ozarks. The state said that most of the bears pose little threat and law protects them.
Monday, June 10, 3 p.m.
