'Bear Problem' is Really a People Problem

by Tom Stienstra
San Francisco Chronicle - June 10, 2001


What’s going on out there with the bears?
It seems some bears are going a little crazy this month with the yearning for human food, sweets, garbage and pet food. It could have a big effect on how you enjoy the great outdoors in the coming summer, from camping at state and national parks to backpacking in the wilderness to enjoying cabin rentals and vacation homes. Of course there is an answer to the whole affair.

Here are stories that have been reported to me in the past week by DFG personnel and field scouts:

-- IN KYBURZ IN EL DORADO COUNTY, a woman heard the refrigerator door open and figured her son was in the kitchen making a sandwich. She happily walked in and found herself staring at point-blank range with a bear peering into the refrigerator. The woman screamed, and the bear, equally shocked, vaulted through a plate-glass window to escape.

-- AT BIG LAGOON IN HUMBOLDT COUNTY, a bear cub entered a pet door in a home and then ate the cat food. The cub then became confused and couldn't find its way out, and started scurrying around the house in semi-panic -- until the homeowners opened the front door and shooed the little bear out to their front lawn.

-- AT MOUNT SHASTA, a bear ripped the door off a travel trailer and rustled around for food, then left. The owner then nailed a sheet of plywood over the door opening to secure the trailer, then went to town to have the door repaired. When he came back, the bear was back inside, having ripped off the plywood, and was systematically rummaging through the refrigerator, drawers and cabinets.

These incidents are not limited to California, but are increasing across North America. In another episode last week, this one in Ontario, Canada, a bear walked right into town and into a doughnut store for the third time this spring. Apparently, it has a thing for jelly doughnuts.

But not all bears come to take something, it turns out.
In Happy Valley, east of Redding, a DFG report has documented a case in which a bear has made daily trips to the porch of a woman's home, leaving a big, round poop near the front door, and then with the morning ritual complete, ambles off.

These stories (and many others) come in the aftermath of the two shocking incidents near Monterey recently. One was in Carmel, where a bear in a tree was shot with a tranquilizer dart but fell to its death when it landed on the ground instead of a prepared landing pad. In another incident, a bear walked into Hertz Equipment Rental in Salinas, then was successfully darted with a tranquilizer and moved.

Some people are horrified over the death of the bear in Carmel and have condemned the DFG for it. Many are shocked at bears turning up at rural homes, cabins and many parks where bears make the daily rounds.
But in the reality of wildlife science, the DFG is blameless and so are the bears. By the time a bear incident is under way, there is little the DFG can do in response; either shoot and kill the problem bear, or dart it and move it out. In the latter case, all that is accomplished is moving a problem to a new area, or worse, overcrowding a wildlife habitat with an unwelcome stranger.

And as for the bears, they are responding to a learned stimulus, that people food tastes better than ants.

But rangers at Yosemite National Park have come up with a solution that works: Instead of dealing with the bears, they are taking on the people who are causing the bear problems to begin with by leaving food out. Instructional info is provided at the entrance gate, and if you violate the rules, you will be cited.

It works. While incidents are increasing across the continent, bear problems are being reduced at Yosemite. Bear damage incidents are down from 139 at this time a year ago to just 29 so far in 2001, a reduction of nearly 80 percent.

How? Why? What can you do on your trip? Here are the answers that are working in Yosemite:

-- Do not leave any food, garbage or dog food outside, whether you are camping, staying in a cabin or living in a vacation home.

-- Do not store food in a vehicle. Last year in Yosemite, more than 500 cars with food stashed inside were broken into by bears.

-- When camping, keep food in metal bear-proof food lockers at campgrounds, or hang from trees using the counterbalance system with vinyl bags. When backpacking, hang your food as soon as arriving at a campsite, or use canisters (now required in the wilderness in Yosemite, Kings Canyon and much of Inyo National Forest). Never sleep with your food.

-- When camping, if no food lockers are available, coolers can often be stashed out of range under a vehicle, in boats moored just offshore or hung off tree limbs.

-- If you see people who are a mess, tell them to clean up their acts or you will report them. They can be cited and forced to comply. Rangers love to clean up the slobs.

-- Report problem bears: Call the DFG, park or Forest Service office in your area to document activity so officers can take preventative action by tracking down who is leaving food out and citing them. In Yosemite, for instance, the Save-A-Bear Hotline has been established at (209) 372-0322.

You know why this works? It works because it breaks the chain. Bears get in the habit of making the rounds, shocking people by simply showing up, getting their food, then teaching their cubs to do the same. Eventually, this can force showdowns with people and the bears must be destroyed.
That is why people who leave out food, garbage or pet food are the real problem. They are the ones who should be blamed for food-raiding bears that get the death sentence
.
If you break the chain, that is, keep bears from getting your food, they will be forced to find natural food to eat: grass, leaves, carrion, insects, berries, acorns -- and you will have saved that bear.

And after that, bears and people alike can live happily ever after.

Where to see bears:
-- 1. Dorst Campground, Kings Canyon National Park.
-- 2. Ukonom Basin, Marble Mountain Wilderness.
-- 3. Lyell Fork (near Tuolumne Meadows), Yosemite National Park.
-- 4. McCloud Flats, Siskiyou County.
-- 5. Onion Valley Campground (near Independence), Inyo National Forest.
-- 6. Emeric Lake, Yosemite National Park Wilderness.
-- 7. Frog Lake area, Kings Canyon National Park Wilderness.
-- 8. Southwest walk-in campground, Lassen Volcanic National Park.
-- 9. Agnew Meadows, Devils Postpile National Monument.
-- 10. Kennedy Meadows Trailhead and campground, Stanislaus National Forest.