HomeMy WebLinkAboutBlack bear safety tips 2023 (1)BLACK BEAR FACTS AND SAFETY TIPS
These facts are collected from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), New
England and Tennessee bear rehabilitation facilities, the Vermont and Maine Departments of Fish and
Wildlife, and the North American Bear Center. For more detailed information see the Bear Smart
Society’s report here.
1. Bears are highly intelligent and can change unwanted behavior.
It is a popular myth that if a black bear has become accustomed to finding food around houses, its
behavior will never change. This is contrary to the evolved adaptability of this highly intelligent species.
Bears can be scared into leaving residential areas when humans “haze” them (yelling, loud noises, air
horns, motion-activated water sprinklers and noise makers, etc.). They change their property-surfing
habits when people persistently defend their resources by removing access to attractants and, if
necessary, concurrently hazing them.
2. Removing attractants works.
The best deterrent to keep bears from your property is by removing easy access to food sources. Long
term studies have shown that when communities cooperate to secure their garbage and other food
sources, “urban bears” (a term used for bears that habitually forage around houses) learn quickly. They
stop visiting residential neighborhoods when the food reward in respect to time spent foraging is low.
Secure your garbage, keep storage sheds and garage doors completely closed, remove attractants from
areas enclosed partly by screens. There are quick, inexpensive DIY fixes that can make your garbage bins
and sheds bear-proof. If you don’t have any tools and need help, ask a neighbor! Creative use of
inexpensive materials can secure your garbage from marauding bears, this video has a concise list of
what you’ll need that a hardware store can easily help with. Other simple fixes also findable online
including this one posted by the DEC.
Bring your feeders in or place them securely out of reach (don’t forget bears can knock over poles) and
keep the ground free of birdseed, especially at night. Clean your outdoor BBQ, do not feed pets outside.
Do not use DeCon or similar, it will attract bears. Remove food and garbage from parked cars, keep
windows up. If you have a vacation residence occupied only part time, be sure all food and garbage is
removed or secured appropriately by caretakers, don’t rely on guests to do it.
Bears get like to get their dense protein from insects, adults will withstand multiple stings to eat hornets
and bees, however inexpensive electrical fencing can protect hives effectively.
3. Bears do not lose their innate fear of humans.
When black bears enter human property to find food it is not due to losing their fear or becoming
“domesticated”. It takes hundreds of years to domesticate any species through manipulated breeding.
Bears are successful generalists with a broad diet of plant matter and insects and will look for food
wherever available. They typically seek food around humans (1) when wild food is less abundant due to
recent weather and climatic conditions, (2) due to habitat loss and fragmentation, and (3) when food
sources like garbage are easily accessible. When bears learn there is easy access to food around certain
residences, over time this is called habituation. It does not represent an evolutionary shift in their
behavioral instincts, which take many generations to occur. Fear of humans and hunger are always
present in bears since both dictate genetically coded survival instincts, but these needs compete in a
behavioral risk analysis of the cost vs. benefit of getting food. If the food is too difficult to access (e.g.
inaccessible garbage bins), or deemed too risky (e.g. when they are hazed), they will eventually give up.
4. “Urban bears” do not become more aggressive towards humans.
There has been one human fatality in NY from a wild bear in the past century; despite literally millions of
human-bear encounters a person’s risk of being killed by another human is more than 60,000 times
greater than being injured during a black bear encounter. Black bears have survived for eons by being
good at fleeing. Females do not attack people to defend cubs; that is a grizzly not a black bear trait. If
they huff, paw at the ground, it is a warning bluff. Bears stand on their hind feet to increase their ability
to see and smell their surroundings; it is not a type of threat. Bears will typically flee dogs but may
become defensive if an off-leash dog harasses them. Fence your dogs, keep them on leash, and wear
pepper spray on hikes when in bear country with dogs. Obviously never approach a bear, and if
necessary conduct noise hazing from your doorway or open window. For more safety tips click here.
5. Killing urban bears, or hunting, does not solve human-bear to conflicts.
When communities start experiencing property damage from bears, too often officials respond by raising
hunt quotas or killing “nuisance” bears. Yet studies show these strategies do not resolve human-bear
conflicts. Killing or relocating an urban bear while not removing the attractants simply creates an
opportunity for another bear to take advantage of, and the cycle of conflict and killing continues.
Relocating bears can work but is not a simple solution. Females can have home ranges of 200 square
miles, and unknown to many, bears are social. They establish territory boundaries based on altruistic
associations, where allies chase off unknown or unwanted bears, both male and female. A recent report
shows that a majority of Americans do not believe a bear should be killed even if considered a nuisance.
This points to the fact that nowadays people value bears as part of our natural heritage, and are
increasingly choosing to peacefully coexist with them by way of bear smart strategies for houses and
farms.
6. During spring and late autumn bears become more visible.
Peak bear mating season occurs from May through June. Males especially will be moving around more,
and thus sometimes more visible, as they look for mates. This is why seeing bears more often is not an
indicator of a population increase. When bears are emerging from, and preparing for, semi-hibernation,
they will be foraging more widely. Black bears are also emerging earlier each year due to warming
winters resulting from climate change. To prepare for a long winter, bears enter a phase called
hyperphagia where the average adult bear needs to quickly put on 30% of its body weight to survive; a
pregnant female must double her body weight to produce cubs successfully. Be aware these higher
movement times are when more bears are hit by cars, one of the main causes of death of adult black
bears. Slow your speeds in rural bear country, bears blend into the shadows easily and can be hard to
detect along roadsides even in daytime.
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