Earth & Sky

Our thanks to the following individuals and institutions who assisted in the preparation of this script:

Timothy M. Snowden
Wildlife Biologist for the Aspen and Sopris Ranger District
USDA Forest Service
Carbondale, CO

Kent Wellner
Forest Service Asst. District Ranger
USDA Forest Service
Carbondale, CO

Sterling Miller
Senior Wildlife Biologist
National Wildlife Federation
Missoula, MT

Author’s Notes:

If you’re camping of living near bears, use bear-proof garbage containers, and keep bird and dog food in sealed containers. It’s important not to let bears eat human food. If they do they may grow too fond of it, becoming so-called nuisance bears. Nuisance bears usually ending up being killed for safety reasons.

Interview with Tim Snowden (and Kent Wellner): by Rachel Clark

This past summer was hot and dry for many areas. And it was particularly hot and dry in parts of Colorado. In fact, the dry summer was preceded by a late frost, which substantially reduced the crops of acorns and berry’s in the mountains of Colorado. Those foods are the same meals that black bears use in their late summer feeding frenzy-the bears need to lay on plenty of fat for the long cold months of hibernation that lay ahead. But with so little “natural” foods to eat, the hungry bears resorted to resort towns. In early July, different groups of about a half-a-dozen bears each rambled into Aspen, Snowmass, and Vale rummaging through the town’s dumpsters. A Bear Task Force was set up in response to complaints about bears digging in dumpsters, borrowing bird food, and chasing pets. The bears made regular visits to each of the towns during the month of July.

Bears also became regular visitors at several campgrounds. In the Frying Pan River campground, for example, about five bears entered the ground every day, near evening, for the solid month of July. The bears were so hungry they raided tents, dumpsters and coolers. The bears were so persistent that officials became concerned for people’s welfare. So they first decided to close the campground to hard-sided campers only-no tents were allowed. After 2 weeks of hard-sided campers only, the bears got even more aggressive in their attempts to find food. Some tried to open the doors of campers while people were inside. They even left the occasional claw mark on doors. So, the campground was closed because it was simply too risky to allow the people to be interacting so closely with hungry bears.

Wildlife biologists have tried a number of different tactics to encourage the bears to leave the area. They’ve shot rubber pellets at the bears, bear-proofed the dumpsters with locks and doors, and have even sprayed the dumpsters with Clorox. But nothing seems to work.

What’s more, this is not a singular occurrence in Colorado. These kinds of intimate interactions between people and hungry bears are happening all over the state. The bears are hungry, and there seem to be a lot of them. In fact, in the past, biologists would trap problem bears and relocate them to another area. Now, because pf the bear’s food shortage, there are too many to trap and finding a place to relocate the bears is nearly impossible since bears are already common throughout the state-and now, more and more people are common throughout the state as well.

One way of helping the situation is to encourage behavior changes in people who live in or visit bear habitat. People should always store food properly when camping. In addition, it’s important to understand the bears live nearby, too, and that people can make room for them. It’s already like this in grizzly country, where people are used to the idea that they are not at the top of the food chain. “But,” says Snowden, “People aren’t used to that here in Colorado. They resent property damage and the inconvenience of not being allowed to camp wherever they want.”

Remarks Snowden, “I think it’s going to continue.” The bears are still hungry and the winter is still going to come.

Interview with Sterling Miller:
by Rachel Clark

“Bears coming into contact with humans has become a universal problem,” says Sterling Miller. “Because of the way humans have flourished on the landscape, bears now live in isolated pockets, or islands, or wilderness, and they’re surrounded by a sea of humanity. Along the periphery of those islands bears do come into contact with humans.”

He says that, as in Colorado this past summer, “In seasons where natural foods fail, the problems are exacerbated.”

Miller explains that bears are an opportunistic and generalist species. They range widely in search of food crops, which may be patchy. They range more widely when their natural food crops fail, so they are even more likely to encounter people. Plus, they can eat everything people eat-meat, vegetables, everything. Bears have even been known to survive on grass, he says.

Another problem that is increasing the contact between bears and people is that people are increasingly moving into bear habitat. Those remote islands surrounded by a sea of humanity are yielding to people pressure. Humans are making “inroads into the islands,” says Miller. “So that means the likelihood of contact with people increases even more.”

“My view,” he states, “is that people move into these areas because they love nature and the wildlife. But when wildlife comes too close, the call the nearest agency to take care of the problem. But people are the problem, here.”

It’s not an easy thing to fix. Miller says the best thing people can do to help reduce human-bear contact is to be informed about where you’re buying property. Miller asks, “Is it in bear habitat? Know you’re responsibilities. Accept the bears if you move in to their neighborhood. And know what you need to do to keep bears out of human foodstuffs. Buy bear proof garbage cans, and use bear proof garbage policies. Keep bird, dog, and livestock food in a safe, secure place. And when these measures fail, don’t expect wildlife management official to kill the bears for you.”

He adds that bears can and do become addicted to human food. And it’s a real problem. “That’s when bears become habituated. They are called nuisance bears, and they usually end up destroyed,” he declares.

And bears that rely on human food could possibly change their hibernation patterns. Bears with more food available in the wild, and in zoos, have been shown to enter hibernation later and emerge from it earlier than bears without an extra food supply.

Finally, he quips, “The fatter the better. If bears eat human food, which makes them fat, that’s not going to hurt them. They’ll get fatter on French fries than on grass,” he jokes. “What will hurt them is getting cut on sharp cans, getting their heads stuck in barrels,” and ending up as nuisance bears that must be put down.