DFG News Archive

Food Brings People and Bears Together; Bears Pay the Price

Late summer in California means the woods are full of hungry black bears that will eat just about anything, much to the frustration of people living or camping in bear habitat. Conflicts between people and bears have escalated in recent weeks, prompting renewed warnings to people who plan to venture into bear habitat.

“There has been, and continues to be, a pattern of careless food storage that leads to public safety incidents. There will be more problem bears unless campers and homeowners start taking some responsibility,” said Assistant Chief Mike McBride, California Department of Fish and Game (DFG).

“Bears are irresistibly attracted to human food,” said Angeles National Forest Supervisor Jody Noiron. “It’s simply wrong to tempt them. People coming to the Forest to picnic or camp need to store their food and garbage in sealable, odor-proof containers-for the good of the bears and for their own protection.”

Noiron says bear-proof garbage bins are located in most campgrounds in the Angeles National Forest, and that food storage lockers are provided in some but not all Forest campgrounds. Plans are in place to purchase and install more food lockers in recreation areas with high bear activity.

In the meantime, people can purchase bear-proof food containers at sporting goods stores. If bear-proof containers are not available, food and other scented items should be double-bagged in heavy garbage bags and hidden from view in a vehicle with the windows rolled up. Ice chests should also be hidden from view, since some bears have learned to recognize and associate them with food.

Campers and other visitors should report bear problems to the camp host or ranger, advises Noiron. In some cases, campgrounds may be closed to eliminate attractants such as human food and encourage bears to return to appropriate, natural food sources.

Avoiding conflicts with wildlife is the goal of the DFG’s Keep Me Wild campaign, which encourages people to respect bears, mountain lions, coyotes and deer by keeping them wild. Prevention tips and other materials can be downloaded from the Web site at www.keepmewild.org.

“Once people have an understanding of a bear’s indiscriminate taste for anything that smells, they’re a lot more careful in bear habitat,” says Doug Updike, DFG senior wildlife biologist and statewide black bear program coordinator.

Updike and other DFG biologists who study black bears tell amazing stories about things bears have eaten. One biologist performing a necropsy on a dead bear found a whole, intact cantaloupe in the animal’s stomach. Another bear’s stomach held an entire yellow jacket’s nest. “I’ve seen leather work gloves, sections of garden hose, plastic bags, even a kitchen sponge in piles of bear scat,” said Updike. “This is not what nature intended for bears to eat.”

Conflicts between people and bears are expected to continue as bears prepare for hibernation, according to Updike. While Californians are taking advantage of the mild climate, bears are trying to fatten up on high calorie foods that will sustain them through the winter.

“The lesson for humans is that if you can think like a hungry bear, you’ll do a better job of avoiding one,” Updike said.