Bears are preparing for weather

SANDERS COUNTY – Despite increased sightings of bears in the county and reports of them making a mess of people’s property, area game wardens are hesitant to call it a problem.

Troy Hinks, game warden for the Sanders County area, said the bears are acting on their instincts and trying to build up fat reserves to survive the winter. He said their whole world is taken up with finding food right now and they would be looking for it wherever they could. Low food availability due to the drought means they have needed to find other source than those in the wild.

“Given the dry conditions we’ve had in Sanders County, there’s really a very low food supply for bears,” Hinks said. “Almost every year we’re going to have bears that are coming into town.”

While reports have been coming from all over the county, he estimated most of the calls had been coming from the Thompson Falls area.

It was reported the Forest Service has been getting several calls about bears every day. The reports have mostly been about the animals getting into trees, trashcans or getting caught in fences; there were also a few reports of bears going near schools, but they are rare. These calls have been getting prioritized and the Forest Service has begun talking to local elementary schools about safety if a bear is seen in the area.

“It’s not a high probability thing, but we want to make sure people are well educated on it,” Hinks said.

The Forest Service recommends people who see a bear in town try and make it an unpleasant experience for them. Especially recommended is not making it worthwhile for them to be there; bears have very good memories and will return to an area if they can get easy food. Similarly, they will avoid an area if they have a bad memory of it.

“Bears are very intelligent, adaptable and strong and people fail to realize that,” Hinks said. “They understand that if they’re getting food out of a garbage can, they learn to associate garbage cans with food. You don’t want it to be a good memory for them and they’re getting rewarded with food. You want it to be a negative experience so they’re not coming back.”

The Forest Service recommends people reduce the bear attractants around their properties. Attractants are things that may smell like food, like pet food, trash and fruit trees. It does not always need to be food to attract bears and the smell of food on a person’s hands can be enough.

“They find out if they knock things over, break glass jars, metal cans, sometimes they find food in there,” Hinks said. “Other times, they find paint or stuff that’s not a food item for them.”

He noted this has been happening consistently in the county. People without attractants on their property have bears pass through, but not make a mess of the area.

When a call comes in, the wardens will usually make note of the bear’s activity and encourage the reporting party to remove any attractants. If the bear does not leave the area, they will trap the bear and remove it. They only resort to shooting a bear if it has become aggressive to people or is actively breaking into structures.

“Generally, when you remove the food the bear moves on to easier pickings,” Hicks said.

So far, there have been very few incidents where a bear has needed to be put down for being a problem. Mostly, the wardens have been trying to trap bears and take them out of an area. This has been difficult at times, since other attractants are easier to get to.

“They’re taking what’s easier,” Hinks said. “They’re climbing the fruit trees, they’re getting into the available garbage cans. [In town] the bear has so many options that he’s going away from the traps.”

Tranquilizers are also an option, though Hinks noted they tend to avoid using them. The drugs are much more expensive to use and are an issue for the hunting season; since they take approximately 30 days to metabolize the meat cannot be used if one is harvested in that time.

The Forest Service encourages people to give a bear space and make it a situation where the animal will have a bad memory of approaching the area. However, safety is recommended and people should not do anything dangerous.

For more information on bears, go to www.fs.fed.us/lei/bear-facts.php.