Here’s how you can help prevent conflicts, and keep bears out of trouble:
Watching bears conditions them to being near people! Don’t allow the bear to stay near your home, or within sight of humans. If possible, safely make the bear leave by yelling and banging a wooden spoon on a metal pan from a safe location and keep it up until the bear leaves. If the bear is unafraid and doesn’t leave, or if you know that it has obtained a food reward, please notify appropriate wildlife authorities. Also using a Bear Proof Container will frustrate the animal once they realize they cannot get into the Bear Proof Trash Can.
Early reporting is critical! The sooner a bear is conditioned to avoid people and human development and return to wild behaviors, the better for the bear. The longer a bear has contact with humans, the more likely it will be successful in finding unsecured food. Call your local Wildlife Officer or Game Warden to report bear activity early, before bears become food conditioned or habituated to developed areas. Otherwise, the bear may have to be destroyed!
What Attracts Bears Around Your Home
Barbeque grills should be cleaned by burning off residue and stored after each use in a secure shed or garage away from windows and doors.
Fruits and vegetables should be picked when ripe, and fallen fruit from trees immediately collected and disposed of in a Bear Proof Trash Can. Do not allow fruit to rot on the ground. Do not apply blood meal to gardens!
Bird feeders attract bears. Eliminate them or hang them at least 10 feet high, and 4 feet away from the nearest trees. Immediately clean up spills on the ground and place them into a Bear Resistant Container. Hummingbird feeders can be replaced with flower baskets, which are also attractive to hummingbirds, but not bears.
Pet food should be stored indoors, (or in a certified bear proof garbage can) and pets fed indoors. If your pet must be fed outdoors, feed only as much as your pet will eat in one meal. Uneaten pet food and bones with meat on them will attract bears.
Livestock feed should also be stored in a secure shed or barn or bear container resistant garbage can container. Uneaten feed should immediately be removed.
Garbage should be stored in bear proof trash can, or indoors in a secure shed or garage. Place all garbage in tightly sealed plastic bags to reduce odors, and remove garbage regularly. Cleaning bear proof garbage containers periodically with a diluted Clorox solution will also help reduce odors, which attract bears. Do not put garbage out until the morning of collection
Compost piles should be limited to grass, leaves, and garden clippings. Adding lime and turning regularly will help reduce odors, and help composition. Do not add food scraps! Kitchen scraps can be composted indoors in a worm box with minimum odor and later added to garden soil.
Beehives, honey, and bee larvae are especially attractive to bears. If you keep hives, elevate them on bear-proof platforms, or erect properly designed electric fencing.
You can help grizzly and black bears by sharing this information with your friends and neighbors. The more people participate in removing attractants and helping bears stay wild, the more likely it is that bears and people can safely coexist. When a whole neighborhood works together to remove the things that attract bears, the conflicts between humans and bears in that area is reduced dramatically!
Bear Safety At Home –
What to do if you see a bear near your home.
Remain Calm
Often the bear is just passing through, and if it finds no food source, will simply move on.
Keep Well Away
Never approach a bear. Do not crowd the bear – give it plenty of space and a safe avenue of escape. Warn others to keep away, bring your small children and pets in the house, if necessary.
Never feed a bear – either intentionally or unintentionally
Keep all garbage in a bear proof garbage can or indoors until it can be properly disposed of. Remove all backyard attractants i.e. bird feeders, fallen fruit, pet food, dirty barbecue’s, and odorous compost.
Let the bear know it is not welcome in your backyard
Do not allow the bear to feel comfortable in ‘your’ territory, not even for a photo opportunity. Assess the situation and ensure the bear has a clear and safe avenue of escape. Show the bear your human presence from a secure position (e.g. balcony or window). Stand facing the bear; making yourself look as big as possible. Use a firm tone of voice to make it feel uncomfortable and encourage it to leave. You can also try banging together pots and pans or throwing stones. After the bear has left the area, remove any food sources that might have attracted it and place food in a Bear Proof Garbage Can. Deterrents are also available to help discourage bears from entering your property.
When to call for help
If the bear appears to be threatening human safety or pets or livestock; or destroying property, call the Police or the Conservation Officer Service elsewhere. Ask them to use non-lethal alternatives!
Encountering a bear
If you do see a bear at a distance, enjoy watching it, and either back off or wait for it to leave. Do not approach it. Bears have a strong sense of personal space – a distance that varies from bear to bear from which they won’t back down. If you end up inside that defensive perimeter, which may be anywhere from ten to fifty feet wide, you are likely to experience a combination of highly intimidating behaviors, including the squared-off lip or long face, jaw popping, huffing, swatting and false-charging.
Some experts regard these behaviors as fear or stress-related. This may be defensive or motivational display separate from the bear’s mood, which may be fearful or stressed. Or it may not be. One expert suggests that you should observe the bear’s mood before it squares off its lip. That’s the true mood of the animal you are dealing with. Everything that follows the squared-off lip is defensive or motivational display.
You can’t judge the nature of an individual encounter between a bear and a human on the basis of whether the bear is displaying one behavior or another, for a bear may use the same displays at different intensities in different contexts.
Having fixed interpretations of any individual bear behavior can be dangerous, not only to a person encountering a bear but also to the bear itself. It’s the escalation of fear that leads to bad decisions. There have been a number of bear attacks that could have been avoided if the situation hadn’t been misread. Some victims have dropped to the ground into protective positions because they thought the bear was about to attack. That, unfortunately, is a self-fulfilling prophecy; they were attacked. Bears, like dogs and many other animals, will enforce their dominance when an adversary displays weakness. A bear, particularly a dominant bear, may just test your resolve.
Black bears take eye-contact very seriously as a position of strength. If your eyes are on the bear, they’ll usually avert their stare. If their eyes hold on you, it’s a sign they intend to motivate you. If they then walk toward you, you better leave!
So what do you do if somehow you get too close to a bear? According to Kilham, a bear expert, stop moving and use your eyes. Keep them directly on the bear. Use them to study the bear so you can determine its attitude toward you. By keeping your eyes glued to it, you’ll also be letting the bear know that you’re not trying to motivate it. If you feel compelled to back up, do it when the bear is relaxed, and keep your eyes on the bear. But chances are the bear will move away first.
It can be difficult and confusing to have a laundry list of preconditioned responses to certain bear behaviors, read as much as possible about these fascinating creatures. Look for them in their woods, and try to keep them out of your backyard.
If you are lucky enough to see a bear at close range, try to keep this simple message in your head: Hold your ground, stay calm, maintain eye contact, and let the situation resolve itself. Your experience will be extremely intimidating and exhilarating, but what you\’ll get in exchange will be the adrenaline rush of a lifetime.