Close Encounter with Bears? Don’t panic: Remember, they are not grizzlies. Our local bears have an 80% Veggies, 10% insect, 10% easy meat (usually dead) diet.
If you don’t mind them being in your yard then enjoy!
If you do mind them being in your yard then treat them like a bad dog in your yard: yell at them and act silly scaring them away. Go ahead, have fun with this at least you will have an excuse. Use pots and pans, garbage can lids, air horns, your kid’s trumpet, and don’t forget that shiny, noisy rain slicker. Let your imagination run wild.
Stop feeding birds during the summer. Most bird experts advise this anyway. If you can’t (won’t) stop feeding the birds then bring your bird feeders inside at night. This works! You can also suspend your feeders from a wire at least 8′ off the ground.
Bring inside any other food sources.
Put your garbage out the day of pick-up instead of the night before.
How Dangerous are Black Bears?
Black bears can injure or kill people, but they rarely do. When pressed, they usually retreat, even with cubs. Attacking to defend cubs is more a grizzly bear trait. (Grizzlies live only in Alaska, northern and western Canada, and the Rocky Mountains south to Yellowstone.) Black bear mothers often leave their cubs and flee from people, and those that remain are more likely to bluff-charge than attack. Still, it is prudent to use extra caution with groups that allow close approaches because mothers are generally more nervous than other bears. Nevertheless, chances of being attacked by any black bear are small.
Unprovoked, predatory attacks by black bears are rare but highly publicized. There have been only 23 deaths by non captive black bears across North America this century. Most occurred in remote areas where the bears had little or no previous contact with people, rather than in and around established campsites or rural areas.
By comparison, a person is about 180 times more likely to be killed by a bee than by a black bear and 160,060 times more likely to die in a traffic accident. Each year there are many thousands of encounters between black bears and people, often unknown to the people because the bears slip away so quietly.
Dozens of minor injuries, some requiring stitches, have occurred across North America when people petted or crowded black bears they were feeding or photographing. Under those circumstances, black bears may react to people as they do to bears with bad manners, by nipping or cuffing with little or no warning. Also, people who tease bears with food have been accidentally injured when the bear quickly tried to take it. Fortunately, black bears usually use at least as much restraint with people as they do with each other. Unlike domestic dogs, which often are territorial and aggressive toward strangers, black bears typically behave as the subordinate toward people when escape is possible.
Black bears that want our food sometimes use threats or bluffs to get it, as has been reported by campers, picnickers, and backpackers. The most common behavior of this sort is blowing, which may be accompanied by clacking teeth, lunging, laid back ears, slapping the ground or trees, and/or a short rush. The same behavior is used to scare other bears from feeding areas. The sounds and actions are all done explosively, with effective results. However, it is rare for a black bear to attack a person during or after such a demonstration. A less common sound is the resonant “voice” of a bear. This is used to express intense emotions (fear, pain, and pleasure), including strong threats. Black bears with ready escape routes seldom use this threat toward people. For more information on what to do if you see a bear or some other wild animal in your backyard, visit the Woodlands Wildlife Refuge Web Site. They are in Clinton, NJ.
All information reprinted with permission from the County Website and The Woodlands Wildlife Refuge.
