Bears ­ Some Interesting Facts

Last Fall a cub bear was shot & killed by the local police in Filing 2. The cub and its mother were after food in preparation for hibernation. The incident disturbed many of the residents.
If there were no human developments in this area, black bears would be going through their normal routine of trying to find enough quality food to put on as much fat as possible in preparation for a long winter's nap. Unfortunately, last year those natural food sources were not as available as in normal years. The late spring freezes and the dry summer did not produce sufficient quantities of berries and acorns to meet the requirements of the bear's fall diet.
In the Fall bears are in a physiological state called "hyperphagia." They eat for up to 20 hr. a day and can consume about 20,000 calories daily. They are looking for large quantities of available food sources. If these requirements are not fulfilled and the individual bear is unable to store enough fat reserves before denning for the winter, then it is threatened with dying in the den before the next spring arrives. Cubs do not carry fat reserves from previous 'good' years, so they have a much greater risk than adults. The Division's bear researcher predicted that as many as half of last year's cubs might die in their dens.
In lean food years the places that provide for these food requirements happen to be local dumpsters, trash cans, bird feeders, BBQ grills, pet foods and in certain cases, freezers and refrigerators.
Over the past several years, with more and more people living and recreating in bear habitat, some bears have learned to associate areas of human activity as places to get food. Once a bear has found the easily accessible, consistent food source that human settlements can offer; it may overcome its wariness of people and visit regularly, increasing the chance of a human/bear encounter.
Everyone can make a difference. The following are actions homeowners can take to avoid turning resident bears into "garbage" bears.
Protect your property by keeping trash and other food sources out of reach and smell of bears. Be aware that bears can break into garages and other structures to get to the trash if they can smell it. Bears have entered or broken into homes and cabins in search of food. Keep all doors and windows closed. Bears rarely enter homes. One of the many things you can do is leave a radio tuned to a talk station to make the bear think someone is in the house.
If you have pets, do not store their food or feed them outside.
Keep BBQ grills clean and store inside.
If you must feed the birds, hang the feeders between two trees at least 10 feet above the ground and a minimum of 4 feet from the trunk. Remember that bears are good climbers.
If you have a compost pile, do not put food items in it.
The time to take action is before a bear has gotten used to being around people and being rewarded for its actions with food. It only takes one successful attempt to get food for a bear to remember what it did to get it. So if a bear gets in your garage for trash and is successful, you can bet it will be back.
When human/bear conflicts do occur, they are dealt with according to the severity of the conflict. Bears are evaluated and can fall under one of three definitions by policy. They are nuisance bears, depredating bears, and dangerous bears. Most calls to the Division of Wildlife are about nuisance bears and are handled by phone and the caller is educated about what they can do to prevent further conflicts. Most end at this point, but some people refuse to do what we ask of them and the conflicts continue.
As the conflicts continue, the bear can get more and more used to being around people and begins to lose its fear of them. And the severity can increase with multiple recurrences. If the conflicts become severe enough that the Division determines that the bear has become a threat to human safety, the bear may be trapped and relocated. The Division prefers that residents alter their behavior as opposed to relocating the bear. State policy dictates that if a bear has been relocated once and gets involved in another nuisance incident it must be killed.

For a complete copy of "Living with Wildlife in Bear Country" call the Division of Wildlife's Gunnison Service Center at (970) 641-7060.

 

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