FWP urges bear safety

MINERAL COUNTY - Being bear-friendly in Montana is a commitment. It may mean sacrificing the opportunity to see a bear or take pictures of it—for the welfare of the bear. It means taking steps to prevent bears from finding sources of food on your property or when you are out camping.

Once a bear is food-trained, it is often impossible to un-train them. That is why biologists so often say a fed bear is a dead bear.

Your vigilance in keeping your residence and outdoor camps “Bear Friendly” can make all the difference in helping keep Montana’s grizzly and black bears wild and free.

“Bear Friendly” means allowing every bear to retain its wild and free nature.

Nine times out of ten, bears that repeatedly get into attractants around our homes are eventually euthanized. Please help save Montana bears from this needless outcome by learning some tips to help keep your residence bear-friendly.

Do not put out salt licks, grain, or deer blocks to attract wild animals as these create areas of concentrated animal scent that will then draw in bears and mountain lions.

Use native plant landscaping whenever possible. Be aware that a watered lawn with lush grass, clover, and dandelions is an attractive feeding site for bears.

Close all windows when not at home or when cooking.

Talk to your children about bears and how to avoid them.

It’s also important to have a plan in case a bear comes inside your home and make sure to keep bear pepper spray handy. Give a bear that is in your home an escape route by propping all doors open with something heavy that will act as a doorstop.

Never approach a bear in your yard, always give bears an escape route and never crowd or harass a bear.

Learn about bear attractants, how to tell if your residence is bear-friendly, and some bear-aware tools to help keep bears wild.

Shocking as it sounds, simple human foods like sunflower seeds and orchard apples, kill bears every year in Montana. Why? Because once a bear finds these easy sources of food they become conditioned almost immediately to favor them over the more difficult to find and less calorie laden natural bear foods such as clover, ants and grubs, and wild chokecherries. A bear seeking human foods is certain to come in conflict sooner or later with people.

Capturing and removing bears to a new area is notoriously ineffective. An even more expensive and time consuming step is to try to retrain bears to eat natural bear foods by using Karelian bear dogs, cracker shells and bean bag rounds to convince them to move away from areas used by humans.

It is useless to retrain bears only to have them relearn their dangerous habits because nearby residents fail to eliminate the bear’s access to bear attractants. The most effective way to save Montana’s bears is to prevent them from obtaining any human foods or garbage in the first place.

It is that simple, and that difficult.

Common bear attractants include:

Bird feeders - Avoid using bird feeders March through November; birds don’t need supplemental feed at this time and bird seed is irresistible to bears.

Human garbage - Human garbage is a primary bear attractant. Garbage should be stored where bears can neither smell nor gain access to it, either in a bear-proof container or inside a building.

Human food - All human food is a bear attractant.

Barbecue grills - Grills with food and grease, as well as cooking utensils, leftovers, and used plates and cups attract bears.

Pets and pet food - Avoid feeding pets outside at dawn or dusk when bears are most active and do not leave their food unattended at any time.

Livestock - Bears generally do no present a threat to livestock, but special caution should be taken during lambing and calving.

Carcass - A carcass may or may not be a bear attractant, depending on how clean it is.

Honey - Beehives, honey, are bee larvae are especially attractive to bears.

Compost Pile - Anything other than grasses and leaves should not be composted outdoors. Composting meat, fish, oil, dairy, kitchen waste, melon and other fruit are all odorous and can easily lure a bear to your home.

Fruit trees and gardens - Bears crave fruit and vegetables. Pick fruit and vegetables as they ripen and plant your garden as far away from your house as possible.

Landscaping - Use native plant landscaping whenever possible. Avoid plants that attract bears.

Vehicles - Don’t leave food or garbage in a vehicle or the back of a pick-up truck.

Don’t feed wildlife - Don’t put out salt licks, grain, or deer blocks to attract wild animals.

It is unlawful to intentionally, or to inadvertently feed bears. Those who do will be warned and possibly cited under this important Montana Law.