Tag Archives: bear attractants

Montana’s hibernating bears soon up and about

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

It’s that time of year again when hungry bears start to emerge from hibernation . . .

Montana’s hibernating black bears and grizzly bears will soon be stirring.

Adult males usually emerge first from winter dens in mid-March. When bears emerge from their dens they are physically depleted and food is a priority.

Bears are often tempted to go where raccoons and domestic dogs are getting into garbage. If these animals are already causing problems near-by, consider it an early warning that food attractants are available and need to be removed.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ bear experts stress that conflict prevention steps can greatly reduce the chances of attracting black bears and grizzly bears.

Read more . . .

Bears are stirring; don’t invite them to dinner

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Bears are coming out of hibernation, so it’s time for the usual annual reminder about removing bear attractants. Bears will eat darn near anything, especially right now, so anything from old apples on the ground to pet food to poorly secured garbage can attract a large, furry, unwanted visitor. In particular, if you are already getting visits from mid-level scroungers like racoons, skunks and coyotes, you could be setting yourself up for a bear problem.

The Flathead Beacon posted a good write-up on the subject. Also, Montana’s “Bear Aware” site has lots of good information on living with bears.

Aversion therapy for bears

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Yesterday, a couple of articles cropped up about teaching bears to avoid humans and their dwellings. The first reports on the Montana-based Wind River Bear Institute and their Karelian bear dog program. The other discusses a training program in a rural district of the Florida panhandle, an area with a substantial black bear population. Two very different areas with similar bear problems.

Here are the links . . .

Aspiring filmmakers turn lenses on Karelian bear dogs for awareness — from the Missoulian

Bear hazing (Or how to chase a bear away and not get hurt) — from The Star, Port St. Joe, Florida

Flathead National Forest hosting “Bear Fair” Aug. 11

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This should be pretty relevant to anyone interested in the problems of sharing the landscape with bears . . ..

The Flathead National Forest is hosting an educational Bear Fair on Saturday, Aug. 11 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Coram. The event is at the Coram Community Center, 185 Coram School Lane, and is free and open to the public.

Participants will learn tips and tools for living in bear country, including information about bear country etiquette, safety and food storage. There will be informational booths, an electric fence seminar, various speakers and a bear spray instruction…

Between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. there will be presentations from the U.S. Geological Survey, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Center for Wildlife Information and electric fencing specialists.

Continue reading . . .

New bear-resistant trash cans rolled out on Flathead Reservation

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Following extensive testing, they’re introducing some pretty clever, bear-resistant trash totes on the Flathead Reservation . . .

Bill Foust admits it took him a little while to figure out how – with his hands full, anyway – to open the lid on his trash cans.

Bears still haven’t mastered it.

And that’s a good thing, considering Foust and his wife Barb live along the front of the Mission Mountains, where bears and humans sometimes have their difficulties coexisting.

The Fousts, who haven’t been able to bear-proof trash cans on their own, have been testing two new specially made bear-resistant containers for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Continue reading . . .

“It’s time to pull in the bird feeders and secure the trash”

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The bears are off to an early start this year . . .

Bears are stirring earlier than usual and have already resumed behavior that led to a record number of captures last year.

Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently relocated a 535-pound male grizzly bear that killed seven calves in four nights near Lincoln. The local FWP office has also been receiving reports of bear sightings near Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

The reemergence of bears has led to a campaign by wildlife officials reminding residents to clean up attractants that increase the likelihood of conflicts.

Continue reading . . .

Nine bears trapped & moved in Northwest Montana

Environmental Issues, News, ,

October, as usual, is a big month for bear-human conflict . . .

The busy season for bear management is well under way in Northwest Montana.

Over the past two weeks, Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear conflict biologists have captured and relocated eight grizzly bears from the northeast portion of the Flathead Valley, according to a news release Friday from the state wildlife agency. A ninth was captured in the Yaak.

Three of the grizzly bears were captured north of Columbia Falls; five others were captured east of Montana 206.

Continue reading . . .

Problem bear captured and euthanized in Polebridge area

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An adult, female, “problem” bear was captured and killed Wednesday near Polebridge. Here are the essentials from the press release . . .

Glacier National Park Rangers and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists captured and euthanized a black bear in the Polebridge area on Wednesday, October 5, after numerous incidents in which the bear broke into vehicles, raided trash storage areas and caused damage trying to access a residence. The bear broke vehicle windows and pulled off car door handles to gain access into at least four cars and trucks, including a vehicle in the park. The bear obtained a food reward in most of these incidents.

The female bear was six years old and weighed 241 pounds, and had been previously captured in downtown Kalispell in June of 2008, after it was seen in the Woodland Park area. The bear was tagged and released in McGinnis Creek in the North Fork of the Flathead, and has not been involved in any other management situations since.

After the recent incidents in the Polebridge area, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists and park rangers set traps and captured the suspect animal. After consultation between Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists and Glacier National Park personnel and verification that the correct animal had been captured, the bear was euthanized. This action is consistent with state and federal bear management plans.

Continue reading . . .

Rise in bear-related chicken raids ruffling feathers of wildlife managers

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This very interesting, if lengthy, article is not nearly as silly as it sounds. Turns out the rising interest in hobby farming is triggering some pretty serious bear conflicts. Bears like chicken and sweet corn just as much as humans do.

There are some great quotes here from a collection of highly irritated wildlife managers.

From today’s Missoulian . . .

More grizzly bears are keying in on unprotected chicken coops in western Montana, with increasingly deadly consequences – both for the bears and the pilfered poultry.

The rise in bear-related chicken raids is ruffling the feathers of state and federal wildlife managers who are forced to move or kill bears that receive a food reward, be it from a trash can, a fruit orchard or a bird pen. The conflicts are entirely avoidable, managers say, but it’s the responsibility of landowners to buck the disturbing trend…

“I sometimes get calls daily on chickens, whereas I used to never hear about it,” said Jamie Jonkel, FWP’s bear management specialist in Missoula. “Chickens are the new garbage. There are so many chickens on the landscape that it’s like having garbage cans with wings just tempting the bears.”

Continue reading . . .