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Bears in your Neighborhood
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 If
bears are in your neighborhood, you should initiate preventive measures to avoid
encouraging nuisance bear behavior.
Efforts should be made to secure all garbage
containers or deposit all edible wastes in separate containers that are stored
where bears cannot gain access. When possible, residents in bear habitat should
keep their garbage inside their home or closed utility shed in double-bagged
garbage bags and put garbage out the morning of pick up, not the night before,
to limit the time a bear will have access to your garbage.
In areas where
garbage pick up is early in the morning, state wildlife agencies can work with
local communities and waste management companies to schedule later pick up times
to allow for this preventive measure. To further eliminate attractive odors,
wash the refuse containers about once a week with disinfectant solution. Bear
resistant garbage cans are another alternative.
For more information on garbage management in occuppied bear habitat, contact the BBCC.
Pet foods as well as bird feeders can attract bears. If pet food is allowed to
remain outdors for extended periods of time a bear will surely find it, eat it,
and will come back looking for more.
Although feeding wild black bears is illegal in Louisiana and Arkansas,
and strongly discouraged in Mississippi and Texas, problems still occur when
people, fascinated by a bear near their home or workplace, toss food out
the door so that they can watch or photograph the animal. In these situations,
both the humans and the bear quickly lose fear of each other.
Fear of humans is
a bear's most important survival mechanism.
Once bears lose their fear of humans
there is little incentive for them to avoid circumstances that bring the humans and bears
together. This could easily result in a dangerous situation, both for people and
the bear. It must be remembered that these are wild animals that may react to
the presence of humans in unpredictable ways.
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