Living In Bear Country
Source: Idaho fish and Game By Vicky Osborn, Television/Radio Specialist
Human Foods + Bears = Trouble
When bears begin spending a lot of time in town, around people, cars and dogs, they begin to lose their natural fear of these things. Though bears are not typically aggressive towards people, they can become aggressive in their efforts to get food. A hungry bear can see the family pet that defends its food dish or a person toting a trash bag to the dumpster as a food competitor.
Bears that display threatening behaviors (such as stalking, or clacking their jaws) or that do not respond to efforts to scare them off cannot responsibly be relocated. Studies have shown that bears accustomed to human food commonly travel 30 miles or more to access that food. While Idaho has a lot of wild places, it’s difficult to find a place that’s more than 30 miles from a town or campground. Therefore, aggressive or excessively habituated bears must be destroyed to protect human safety. No one wants to be the reason a bear is destroyed.
Bear Country Living Comes With Responsibilities
The way to prevent this tragedy is to prevent the cycle from beginning in the first place. Taking the following precautions can prevent bears from accessing human foods, and stop the cycle of habituation, aggressiveness and removal:
- Keep trash in a bear-resistant container or in a secure enclosure, such as a garage
- Ensure that bear-resistant containers are properly closed and latched; never tamper with the latching mechanism
- Never leave trash outside overnight
- Do not feed birds, including hummingbirds, between March and November
- Keep pet foods inside at all times
- Pick fruit promptly when it begins to ripen, and clean up any fallen fruit
- Do not keep coolers, refrigerators, or freezers outside or on porches
- Keep barbeque grills clean after use
Here to Help
If a bear does access human food at your home or camp, biologists can provide information on how to prevent future incidents, and hopefully encourage the bear to move on. Regional offices are open Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm.
