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People who actively set out temptations for wildlife ruffle my feathers. When people are the problem, it& #39;s the bear that pays the price.
I grew up in a rural area where our neighbors baited bears for their selfish, short attention span entertainment: it ended poorly. A thread. https://twitter.com/mjcreid/status/1293752447303917573">https://twitter.com/mjcreid/s...
I grew up in a rural area where our neighbors baited bears for their selfish, short attention span entertainment: it ended poorly. A thread. https://twitter.com/mjcreid/status/1293752447303917573">https://twitter.com/mjcreid/s...
I grew up in black bear country. I knew how to deal with bear encounters before I knew how to drive. Keep your garbage secure. Harvest fruit asap. Don& #39;t feed the bears, ever.
People not familiar with black bears don& #39;t/can& #39;t/won& #39;t realise the immense power and speed of bears. 2/n
People not familiar with black bears don& #39;t/can& #39;t/won& #39;t realise the immense power and speed of bears. 2/n
Black bears are large mammals... but they& #39;re not intimidating-large and massive like a grizzly. Their relatively small size and seemingly slow and calm demeanor give people a false sense of safety in their presence. People think they& #39;re cute and entertaining. 3/n
Our neighbors were more recent arrivals to the area, but also came from an area that also had black bears. Ignorance was no excuse here: it was pure selfishness. They started setting out huge piles of apples next to their porch, set out chairs, and watched a black bear eat. 4/n
Other neighbors (and us) told them this was a bad idea, but they didn& #39;t listen. They also set out meat for the bear, like last night& #39;s leftover chicken.
The bear kept coming. It would show up and eat. However, once these people were used to seeing the bear, they became bored.5/n
The bear kept coming. It would show up and eat. However, once these people were used to seeing the bear, they became bored.5/n
It only took these people a couple of weeks to become bored, but by then the bear considered their backyard a go-to food spot. The bear shows up and doesn& #39;t see any food. I& #39;m sure these people thought the bear would just stop coming, despite what we all told them. 6/n
Bears are great at sniffing out food sources. So it broke into the neighbor& #39;s entryway and raided the spare fridge. It raided their garbage cans (not secured at all). It started trying to raid other people& #39;s garbage. Our neighbors had created a Problem Bear.
It got worse. 7/n
It got worse. 7/n
The Problem Neighbors also kept rabbits and chickens. The bear started ripping into their hutches and coops looking for food.
The bear, now associating people = food, started chasing neighbor kids.
I was one of those kids. Here& #39;s that story. 9/n
The bear, now associating people = food, started chasing neighbor kids.
I was one of those kids. Here& #39;s that story. 9/n
I was walking under a conifer tree in our yard, not knowing the bear was in it. I startled it, and it fell out of the tree. It stood up, sees me, & full out runs at me. I turn tail to run...and in true movie heroine style trip, fall, and land in horse poop in the tall grass. 10/n
I& #39;m laying flat on my front, thinking "Ok, roll over so you see it coming!" I do...and wait. And wait. And wait some more. The bear, on not being able to see me anymore, no longer felt I was a threat and took off.
This happened so often that the other neighbors took charge. 11/n
This happened so often that the other neighbors took charge. 11/n
The bear was put down that summer. It took place quickly and as humanely as possible. However, it would never had needed to happen if our selfish neighbors didn& #39;t treat the local wildlife as entertainment. Behind Problem Bears are Problem People. 12/n
