by Dr. Lynn Rogers
Fear of bears is understandable given the barrage of
misinformation about these animals. The business of demonizing
bears began centuries ago. In the older folklore, dragons were
cast as the villains in stories that play on our fear of the
unknown. A major theme of our folklore was man against
nature, and dragons played the role of the dangerous beast to be
conquered. Later, writers in Europe and North America cast bears
and wolves in that role, playing on our primal fear of animals
with pointed teeth. The stories were fiction, but real animals
paid the price of the mischaracterizations. In Europe and North
America, bears and wolves were eliminated from much of their
former range as people cleared forests, created farms, and went
to extremes to eliminate any threat to themselves, their crops,
and their livestock.
The business of demonizing bears continues today with fearsome
covers on outdoor magazines, unnatural snarls on museum mounts,
and warnings written by attorneys worried about liability
problems. Black bears have killed only a handful of people
across North America in all of history, but those accounts are
told and retold until they mischaracterize this animal in many
people's minds.
In recent decades, scientific studies of bears and other
wildlife have produced solid information that has been
disseminated via educational TV, magazines, and books. This has
given the public a broader knowledge and better appreciation of
animals that were once only feared. Bears are also benefiting
from the fact that millions of acres of marginal farmland have
been abandoned and are reverting to forest. A more knowledgeable
public is allowing black bears to repopulate those areas, some
of which have not held bears for over a century. This is
happening despite the fact that many more people live in those
areas today than when the bears were extirpated. In many
locations across America, people are again enjoying the sight of
black bears, enabling these people to replace the demons of
their imagination with the timid bears of reality.
Still, many people fear bears. Seeing a bear where none have
lived for decades prompts some people to call officials. A
problem is that some of the officials who handle those calls
hold the same misconceptions as the callers and are afraid that
if they do not kill or remove the bear they might be held
responsible if the bear hurts someone or damages property.
Responses by officials vary somewhat by region. In some regions,
shooting the bear is still the primary response to complaints.
In others, the primary response is information on how to reduce
food attractants and live with bears.
People's food obviously can attract bears, especially when
natural food is scarce. Feeding bears can obviously create
problems in campgrounds and densely residential areas. I do not
recommend that people feed bears even though I do it as part of
my research as seen on the Animal Planet TV documentary, "The
Man Who Walks With Bears." Feeding bears in residential areas
can get bears killed because people's attitudes vary. Some
people enjoy feeding and seeing bears. Others fear them and want
them removed or killed.
However, most beliefs about bears and people and people's food
are untested assumptions. Scientific study of relations between
bears and people, or people's food, is in its infancy despite
the fundamental importance of this kind of information to
human-bear management. While many categorically believe that "A
fed bear is a dead bear," there is a growing body of knowledge
that in some situations, judiciously placed food can serve as a
buffer against bear problems when natural food is scarce. There
is a need for more information to determine the situations in
which feeding facilitates coexistence. The Wildlife Research
Institute (www.bearstudy.org)
is currently studying this and other aspects of the bear-human
interface.
At this time, we are recommending against feeding bears,
especially against hand-feeding them. Hand-feeding can lure a
very hungry black bear closer to people than the bear feels
comfortable. Most of these bears will eat gently and timidly.
However, when the food runs out, a nervous bear may shift its
attention to the person who now seems threateningly close. At
that point, some bears don't dare to turn their backs and leave
and may defensively slap the person before turning and running
away. Injuries, if any, from these slaps are nothing close to
the folklore that a bear can disembowel a cow with a swipe of
the paw. Slaps usually cause no more than welts where the claws
scrape across the skin. Black bear claws are strong for climbing
trees but aren't sharp like a cat's for holding prey. When bears
get used to being hand-fed in a particular location, some may
cautiously investigate people there. Finding no food to trigger
familiar hand-feeding routines, some bears become nervous about
the proximity and give a quick bite. These nips are not attacks
and seldom break the skin, but they can hurt. The same bears
will run from people they encounter elsewhere.
Black bears can learn many of our rules of coexistence, but
learning our property laws sometimes requires special education
called aversive conditioning. I recall a gentle bear that
learned to open sliding glass doors that were left unlocked.
When [he] got inside and found people home, the timid bear
calmly walked back out the door. When people were gone, [he]
emptied cupboards and refrigerators. Food was scarce in the
woods that year, and the bear probably figured this kind of
supplemental foraging was okay -- not that different from
stealing acorns from squirrel middens. The people of the
neighborhood were familiar with bears, so they did not feel
threatened, but the messes became tiresome, and they became
worried after the bear brushed past a couple gas stoves and
turned on the burners. Long-suffering officers shot the bear.
However, some bears are killed unnecessarily when blustery
behavior is mistaken as threatening behavior. In my 36
years of close-up experience with bears, I have never seen a
blustery bear actually attack. Ferocious-looking body language
and vocalizations are signs that bears are nervous and afraid.
Not surprisingly, then, bluster is followed by retreat, often up
a tree. In residential areas, crowds gather below. Nervous bears
express their apprehension by slapping the trunk and blowing
sharply. Although I have never found any report of a treed bear
coming down and hurting anyone, such bears are often shot in the
name of public safety rather than waiting for the neighborhood
to calm down at night so the bear can come down and head for
solitude.
Where problems with bears and people are common, aversive
conditioning can drastically reduce problems, especially if it
is done in conjunction with efforts to make food unavailable
where bears are unwelcome. Aversive conditioning involves
scaring bears so they learn to avoid people and certain
locations. An advantage of this for the people and the bears is
that the bears can continue to live in the area and prevent
uneducated bears from moving in.
People who are apprehensive about bears can carry pepper spray.
This is the harmless substance mail carriers use on dogs. It
comes in small containers that can fit into vest pockets and is
as effective on bears as it is on dogs. One squirt in the eye
and the bear doesn't go away mad, it just goes away. In hundreds
of tests, I have never seen a bear become angry about being
sprayed. Once a bear has the experience of being sprayed, I
found that they would often run if I just held up my hand like I
have a can and say "SHHHH." I have never HAD to spray a bear. In
fact, in my 36 years of working closely with bears, including
capturing cubs in front of numerous mothers, I have never had a
bear come after me and hurt me.
In areas where officials must deal with bear problems, there is
a need for training in bear behavior and aversive conditioning
techniques. The Massachusetts Environmental Police are to be
commended for holding a training session in bear vocalizations
and body language led by the Wildlife Research Institute.
New Jersey, Yosemite National Park, and British Columbia have
trained their officers in aversive conditioning.
Aversive conditioning, public education, and strongly enforced
feeding ban and garbage control laws are the most effective
solutions to reducing problems between bears and people in
densely residential areas.
Lynn Rogers, Ph.D.
Wildlife Research Biologist
Wildlife Research Institute
Ely, Minnesota