These signs are placed on Yosemite’s roadways each year near places where cars have hit bears. They grow in number as each season progresses until just before the first snows are expected when they are removed so the snow plows don’t damage them. The next year the park begins anew to place the signs in appropriate places. A recent Yosemite report said that 35 have been killed this year; a similar number were killed in 2014. With an estimated population of 350 bears in all of Yosemite, that’s 10% of the bears these past two years. No one really knows how many cubs are born each year, especially with these dry conditions which may well be lowering the bears’ food supply on which their reproduction depends.
 

 
We were so saddened on the morning of Saturday, October 10th as we were nearing El Portal on Hwy 140, to see this dead bear by the side of the road. It was probably killed during the night, its dark coloring making it hard to see after dark. Please drive carefully both inside and outside the Yosemite park boundaries as wildlife of many types are out and about. Thank you!