New Method For Dealing With Nuisance Bears: Expert
Thursday, September 08, 2011 at 15:01
A novel idea is being pitched to reduce the problem of black bears that hang around communities in search of food.
A Minnesota bear expert says feeding bears beef fat when their natural food supply is low can help keep them away from communities.
Lynn Rogers is the director of the Wildlife Research Centre.
Rogers says conventional wisdom dictates you should never feed a bear.
He says this is true in national parks and campsites.
However, in rural areas, he says studies have shown that so-called diversionary feeding can help keep the animals away.
He says one area in the U.S. tried diversionary feeding after traditional tactics failed.
Rogers says the citizens took down bird feeders and removed outdoor dog food in an effort to keep the bears away.
However, the berry and nut crop had failed due to drought, so the bears began breaking into homes and vehicles.
Rogers says the citizens then decided to take matters into their own hands by placing food in a carefully-selected area in some nearby hills.
He says the problems ceased — and human encounters with bears were much lower the next year because the berry and nut harvests rebounded.
A problem wildlife specialist with Saskatchewan Environment says the provincial government will look at the merits of the idea.
However, Mike Gollop says it would be a very large undertaking requiring a lot of resources and manpower over a long period of time.
Gollop also worries the feed might attract a lot of bears — which wouldn’t be a good thing.
He adds the ministry has tried diversionary feeding in the past to keep waterfowl and big game animals out of farmer’s fields.
But he notes it was just for very limited time periods.