Blog From A Hermit Dot Com

My good-neighbor policy toward our local black bears is not without detractors. We once called our closest neighbor to tell her of a sow (Mom Bear) with cub toward the back part of our property. Knowing the neighbor sometimes walks with her dogs near the bears’ location, we wanted her to avoid the area until the bear moved on. The neighbor’s first reaction was “Did you call the sheriff?” – something that never even occurred to us. Was the Sheriff supposed to arrest the bear, or just issue a citation? We provided the neighbor with some bear education, but I don’t think she was listening. She was scared.

News stories of “troublesome” black bears surface every couple of weeks in Western Washington. Black bears are, of course, no more troublesome than they ever were. Human/bear interaction has just increased with the last decade’s real-estate development boom. (Thankfully, slowing of late.) Many of the humans involved have no wildlife education. They are urban dwellers come to forest’s edge via the paved cul-de-sac in front of their new home. When real-estate agents are selling great family neighborhoods, they rarely mention that “last year your front yard belonged to a family of black bears” No surprise the bears’ new neighbors come with no rules of human to bear etiquette.

I think developers grabbing up habitat and transforming it into human neighborhoods should be required to provide wildlife educational material with every home sale. To help motivate due vigilance on the educational requirement, they should also have to fund all subsequent “trap and relocate” costs when the inevitable “meeting of mammals” occurs.

Nuisance wildlife (mostly bears, and an occasional cougar) are the responsibility of Washington State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. Their nuisance wildlife reports rose by nearly 10 times between 2003 and 2007 – the local development peak. There are not 10 times as many bears. Bears are no more interested in being around humans than ever. For every bear that is seen, it’s estimated there are 10 or 15 that stay completely hidden. The big culprit is humans – especially those who carelessly (or intentionally) create easy food sources which attract the bears. “Nuisance bears” are often recently launched youngsters looking for their own territory.

Black bears have fairly lousy eyesight, and moderate hearing – but their nose rules their lives. They are opportunistic omnivores, primarily vegetarians (although they will eat small mammals, fish, reptiles and insects when they don’t have to work too hard for them). They sometimes eat fresh carrion. But no food smell is more interesting to bears than that “supermarket” treasure trove they find near human houses. Once they find it, it’s hard for them to resist and they can’t be discouraged. The only fix (short of death) is relocation.

Attracting bears with food is easy – smelly garbage, dirty barbecues, bird feeders and pet foods. If you can’t keep the garbage inside until pick-up, it should at least be tightly bagged within the garbage can. (Environmental paradox: use plastic to protect the bears.) People who leave food out for those “cute, little raccoons” are just asking for trouble. Even if they are fortunate enough to avoid a bear on their deck, as the population of fed raccoons increases, the raccoons themselves become very aggressive. Small dogs and cats don’t have a chance against a competitive or provoked raccoon. Humans who feed the wildlife, ruin it for everyone (including the critters). Once the animals equate garbage can or porch with food source, everyone in the neighborhood is subject to unwanted visitors. This is why education is so important.

Common sites of nuisance bear reports are also schools. New elementary schools to support new homes are often located in sylvan settings. Black bears don’t wander out of the forest in search of little kids to eat, but they are attracted to all the goodies in those lunch pails. Lunch box contents get traded, carelessly discarded, left behind and lost. The bears just follow their noses.

Perhaps part of the problem is Western Washington has some big metropolitan areas – people don’t usually think of the Seattle area as “wildland” or bear country. States like Alaska and Wyoming have active wildlife education programs to protect citizens. Washington State needs more of that.  With no grizzlies, we don’t really have “big bad bears,” we just have big, misunderstood bears – and (from the bears’ perspective) “big, bad,” misinformed humans.