Wild video of mountain lion

[cmcdonald]

You are 100% correct John.

Over time just like any other animal, bears will change their behaviour given the right input or circumstances. It is either a lack of action or an over abundance that will change things often for the worse. Managing wildlife in populated areas takes dedication to the preservation of habitats and species while taking into account human interactions and confrontations. It's a difficult balance that often results in some animals requiring euthanizing and others to be relocated. Either way, both take resources and governments often don't allocate nearly enough to wildlife management. Uneducated and emotional public pressure usually drives wildlife managers the wrong way when their bosses take too much heat for culling bears, or deer or cougars or wolves or....you name it. That just leaves folks like yourselves in the position of having to break the law in order to protect yourself or your kids. It's mostly unnecessary and 100% not your fault.

Living at the edge of the wilderness, we absolutely cannot leave garbage out any time. Ever. I even burn my BBQ for an extra 10 mins after the food comes off to get rid of most of the scent. Even after all these years, people are still surprised when a bear comes up to their sliding glass door on their back porch, pounds on it a few times and throws their garbage cans up in the air and generally has a tantrum scaring the crap out of the occupants. I just shake my head and tell my wife for the umpteenth time that one day, one of those bears will try it here because of jackasses like those and I'll be the SOB who has to drop the bear in its tracks and will have to answer all the stupid questions from the Conservation Officer service as they assume that I'm the jackass that attracted the bear there in the first place.

Let me tell you, I have no garbage cans on my back porch nor the front. I will on occasion have fully bagged and enclosed in a can on the interior back porch (sealed up like the rest of the place) a bag of garbage that will go for disposal the next day. You cannot live at the edge of the wilderness and leave garbage out. It is an invitation for bears and other scavengers to dine. We do not have bears pounding on our doors and never have.

Even here in town we have areas that back onto the mountains and most jurisdictions now issue cans that are ummm...bear resistant maybe? Certainly not bear proof. We get the odd bear and coyote right here in the 'burbs. We've taken to freezing our compostables and making sure the regular garbage is as free of food scent as is possible. The compostable stuff is picked up weekly so it goes out frozen...greatly lessening the odors. We haven't had any trouble since doing that. I know other folks who don't get city garbage pick up and they have a freezer dedicated to garbage...LOL. Gotta do what ya gotta do I guess.

 

[John A.]

Well, sadly, relocating doesn't work.

The state, in their infinite wisdom relocate bears all the time.

However, they relocate them from one area of the county, to another, while this rids one neighborhood from a nuisance bear (politically correct way of saying dangerous bear that's gotten too many complaints) it only gets moved to a new neighborhood while still retaining the same bad behaviors that had it on the naughty list to begin with.

So, relocating bears is nothing more than a bad joke with a worse punch line. It relocates your problem and gives it to some other undeserving neighboring community.

And that usually results in a bunch of gut shot bears that run off and die slowly so they don't collapse in the yard for you to have to drag off or explain to a game warden why it's laying in your yard dead because the tracking collars and stuff alerted them where it was at and that it's not moved in 3 days. Shame really, but when that's the only option left, that's what happens. It's a waste of time to complain to the state. I'm not making light of the situation, but it's common to overhear people talking in walmart openly talking about it "burning one up" or any other of the various ways of saying they shot it.

Of course, the state frowns on that, but the people got tired of the state game wardens handing them out rubber slugs like halloween candy and nothing really being done about it. That's a waste of time and tax payer dollars.

As for leaving out trash, unfortunately, I have to leave my trash in the basement stinking up the place for a week because our garbage runs on wednesdays to keep the bears out of my trash. It's shameful that you have to do that. But this is the alternative:

Just to go on record, the entire bin was moved about 12 feet away and this was one of the mild less messy times it was ransacked. Also notice how close that was to a kids trampoline in the background.

 

[John A.]

I was going to edit my earlier reply but will just add what I thought to add here.

As for trying to hide the scent of trash/food, it doesn't work here. I have literally poured an entire gallon of ammonia into half eaten stale cereal boxes and stuff, and they STILL EAT IT ANYWAY>

I thought, OK, a bear has a good sense of smell so add something so revolting it wouldn't want to smell of it.

Nope.

Don't work. Stupid things ate it anyway.

Only thing it does is cause the garbage man to about suffocate and die trying to do his job.

Same for pepper spray.

Again, only pisses off the garbage man.

 

[Ernst]

Living with bears you learn to blend into their environment.

We try to minimize any direct contact which is sometimes hard since they come within 20-30 yards of our house several times a week. There is never a time we are not armed if we're outside and practice situational awareness all the time. Especially careful when going around corners of buildings or around our ponds.

We never leave any garbage out nor feed the animals. We do have bird feeders but they are taken in every night to prevent the bears from raiding them. All trash is stored in roller bins with lids in the garage and disposed of weekly. The other caution is to not burn your trash. Bears have incredible sense of smell. If you have BBQ grills store them inside to prevent the bears from tearing them apart.

They eat fruit from our orchard and especially love pears and apples. They eat what falls to the ground or what they can reach off the tree. Seldom will they climb a tree but not unheard of. They also eat balckberries. Beyond the bears we have racoons and coyotes who are always looking for free food.

Til people see a bear run at a full charge they have no sense as to how fast they can run or charge you. From 25 yards under a full charge you will likely get no more than two shots off and you must be ready. Shot placement counts!

As mentioned above relocation is a failed strategy. Bears expand their territory in search of food. If you simple relocate a bear and don't change what attracts them others will come. The only way to control propulation spread is selective hunting in mountainous or forested regions. Game management is key.

Living with nature and her animals is a wonderful experence. See the pictures I load on this thread earlier. But as I indicated above we humans need to learn how to blend into the environment that surrounds us.

Regards

 

[cmcdonald]

The whole relocation issue really comes down to how much thought and money they want to put into it. Let's face it, a fully habituated bear that is relocated far enough from easy food will likely starve over a winter = put them down (CO's here in BC often do for bears like that...the animal rights people go nuts).

Most problem bears are euthanized but a typical relocation is hundreds of km's for big animals like bears and cougars. No "relocating" 30 km's down the road. That's just a waste of time.

I can totally understand why people like John and others who live in areas like that are fed right up...I would be too.

Like so many issues in our society today people don't care about themselves let alone one another and do the most foolish things for entertainment or to save a buck. Either way its always the innocents that get hurt. Be that a vulnerable child or an unreasoning beast. You can usually trace the blame back to another human.

 

[John A.]

I can totally understand why people like John and others who live in areas like that are fed right up...I would be too.

Like so many issues in our society today people don't care about themselves let alone one another and do the most foolish things for entertainment or to save a buck. Either way its always the innocents that get hurt. Be that a vulnerable child or an unreasoning beast. You can usually trace the blame back to another human.

Most people, think there are no problems with the bears. They think, they're more scared of you than you are of it. Just make some noise. It'll run away.

No, there is no law of nature that says that they will. I've been charged. I've known others who have been charged.

I have a neighbor who had to put a horse down because a bear had gotten into the barn with the horse because it smelled the horses feed and they got into a fight one night. I'm sure the bear was hurt too, but the horse was so injured in its' hindquarters that it had to be put down. The muscles and tendons torn and mauled so badly that they couldn't be repaired. If anyone saw what it did to that horse, just think what it would have done to any adult human.

I know people who have had their dogs attacked because a bear came looking for their dog food.

I know people who have had their cars tore all to pieces because a bear got inside and couldn't get back out (yes, it's a thing--lots of bears have learned how to open car doors). Sadly, Danny told me he didn't even have food in the truck. His truck was less than 6 months old when the bear clawed and scratched the door all to pieces trying to open the handle. AND SUCCEEDED

Just to point something out, these 3 bears in this video below had no hesitation moving closely to all of those people outside hollering and talking. Bears have lost their natural fear of humans.

Lots and lots more videos of that happening here if you think that it's an isolated incident, it's not:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bears+opening+car+doors+compilation

The neighbor straight behind my old house, the bears used to climb up on his hood to get a better view of the neighborhood. I'm not joking.

There is nothing good going to come from interactions with bears. Nothing. They are literally nothing more than a destructive stomach on 4 legs that have no place anywhere around where humans are.

Bears suck.

 

[cmcdonald]

There is nothing good going to come from interactions with bears. Nothing. They are literally nothing more than a destructive stomach on 4 legs that have no place anywhere around where humans are.

Bears suck.

Indeed, scenes like this play out all over. I've seen bears open car doors before...pretty incredible. I see that bear in the video was tagged...obviously not his first rodeo and he's a youngster.

To your point about bears having lost their natural fear of humans, I definitely see a difference in bear behaviour the closer you get to civilization. No doubt about that. Out in the wild, they still bugger off quick and often you only catch a glimpse and they're gone. Near our cabin it's a different story. They have to be discouraged at best and put down at worst. Bears are like water...taking the path of least resistance. If food is easy that's where they go every time and mama bears will teach their cubs the exact same thing. So, you absolutely get a change in learned behaviour over time and my guess is you'll never get it out of them. You would have to end the line and take the cubs away before mama has a chance to educate them, send them to a wildlife shelter/refuge where they severely limit direct human contact and teach them how to fend for themselves again. Then release them well away from populated areas.

EDIT: I forgot to add that like you said about people thinking there's no problem with bears...we have far too many people around that think that way. Bears are dangerous predators and are not cuddly teddy-bears. You cannot mix humans and bears. It does not work. Ever.


Bears managed to get their claws into a door seal on a little Mazda a few weeks back near here. The car is probably a write off. The guy had left his old lunch in there.