STERLING CITY, Texas — Most people know that you can find bears in the Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend National Park.
But what you may not know is that black bears are native to all of Texas and once roamed through the entire state.
The game cam footage seen above shows the rare black bear out in Sterling City, located almost as far east as San Angelo, where black bears aren't thought to exist.
Some experts say that sightings like this are not isolated events, but actually signal a gradual trend in bears moving northward and eastward out of Mexico.
Bears were removed from the state in the early 1900s in order to protect livestock, but the habitat they left behind still exists today.
Most of the undeveloped land across Texas is still suitable for black bear habitation, and that's why we are seeing more and more bear sightings across the state.
Hunting for them is prohibited in Texas, so within the next several decades we will likely only see an increase in these furry creatures.