Tailfeather– This, unfortunately, happens here several times a day–I’m talking trapping and moving or killing “garbage” bears by the hundreds each year. Worst time is Aug. and Sept. Last year was the worst ever. Our problem is more and more people moving into and building in prime bear habitat, which is the mid-elevation oak-brush zone–trophy vacation houses for the filthy rich and subdivisions for the rest of us–and the sad truth that most of these newcomers, along with too many old timers, know or care nothing about the fact that, like the DPW bumper stickers say, garbage kills bears. It’s a hell of a battle here with a good local volunteer organization trying to educate the public about keeping their trash, pet and livestock food out of reach of bears, but most are so proud in their ignorance they refuse to cooperate. We now have laws about not putting out trash until 6 ayem the morning of pickup, but like too many “laws” they have no teeth and are widely flaunted. You’d think people would tired of having to pick up their garbage that’s been scattered everywhere by bears. A natural food failure, common here from late frosts and drought, of course greatly exacerbates the problems. Once a mother bear becomes addicted, which will be the first time she tastes human food, she teaches her cubs to do the same so it goes generational. Just another human wildlife conflict and I hope it never gets this bad where you work. All my game warden friends hate their jobs due to the requirement to kill so many bears when they know it’s peoples’ fault. Most hunters like to complain that the problem is due to not being able to bait and hound. In fact, study after study have shown the logical truth that the bear you kill back up on the mountain has no impact on the suburban and townie bear pops. And every bear that is baited and escapes being killed is then a garbage bear the rest of its days. If there’s nothing for a bear to eat in a yard or neighborhood, it will go elsewhere as it has no time to waste mucking about where no calories are to be had. I went the first half of my life dreaming about seeing a bear in the wild (outside Yellowstone) and now really enjoy having them around. I wish your prisoner best luck. We’ve had garbage-addicted bears here return from more than a hundred miles away. Now they’re running out of places to release them, so most just get shot.
