Below is a chart produced by the IBA's Bear Specialist Group on approaches to dealing with human-bear conflict. 1) Educating the public provides a base (but has its limitations and is in general, ineffective). 2) You can educate bears by teaching them acceptable behavior, hazing (short term), aversive conditioning (long-term). 3) You can manage bears (trapping and relocating, or killing, either as nuisances or by increased hunting). 4) By far the largest chunk in approaches is being pro-active by preventing problems (removing human-provided foods, i.e. trash, bird feeders, fruit).

One major roadblock we have in our approach locally is that in the time we're taking to reduce attractants, i.e. trash, bird feeders, etc. we are continuously training new bears, including young bears, on how to utilize human-provided foods - ensuring that problems will be ongoing.

An example: The very next morning after a bear was destroyed in town for biting a resident in July, a new bear was at the same location getting into trash.

nuisance bears despite great natural foods

Knoxville News Sentinel, Nov. 27, 2010

Black bear nuisance behavior in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park got off to an early start this spring and has lasted longer than usual, biologists say.

Nine backcountry campsites in the park currently are closed because of bears aggressively searching for food, and in some cases, even tearing into tents.

Kim Delozier, chief wildlife biologist for the Smokies, said the late-season spate of nuisance bear behavior in the backcountry is especially surprising in light of the abundant natural food available to the bears from this fall's acorn crop.

"You'd think with plenty of food available, nuisance behavior wouldn't be a problem, but that's not been the case this fall," he said.

Article here.

2010 Bear Sightings & Incidents

Although the bear season isn't officially over, here are some preliminary results of the 2010 Bear Sighting & Incident data. For a more detailed recap of the 2010 bear season, go here.

BY THE NUMBERS: There have been 1,104 reports of bear sightings and incidents in 2010.The highest months for reports were June: 145, July: 401, August: 308 and September: 109. (see graph below).

• There were 38 reports of bears in homes or attempting to get into homes, 67 reports of bears in garages, on decks or in yards and 10 reports of bears breaking into vehicles.

• 883 of the reports involved human foods. 846 of those were bears getting into trash and 768 of the 846 were bears getting into trash in the city.

MAPS: A quick preliminary plot of sightings and incidents in 2010. The maps are a good representation of where sightings and incidents occurred, but not representational of the level, or severity, of sightings and incidents. (click photos for a larger view).

FAQ: City Wildlife Ordinance

Bear Smart Durango worked with the the City of Durango on a FAQ and resource guide for the new city wildlife ordinance, adopted by City Council in May 2010.

The FAQ is available as a Google Document to view or print here .

A copy of the City of Durango wildlife ordinance is available here.

DOW Kills Durango Bear That Bit Man

Press Release

7/10/2010
Division of Wildlife

DOW Kills Durango Bear That Bit Man

DURANGO, Colo. Colorado Division of Wildlife officers shot and killed a bear early Saturday morning that bit a man near the Animas River in Durango.

The victim reported he was sleeping outside when he was bitten by a bear through his blanket at about 2:30 a.m. He received a minor wound during the attack and was able to escape the bear by entering into a nearby building.

Officers from the DOW and the U.S. Department of Agriculture responded immediately with tracking dogs, which led officers directly to a male bear approximately three blocks from where the incident took place. DOW officers shot and killed the animal. The bear carcass was identified by several people who witnessed the incident as the bear that bit the man.

"A bear that bites a person - or loses its fear of people may be a serious threat to public safety," said Patt Dorsey, area wildlife manager for the DOW in Durango. "In the interest of public safety, we chose to remove this animal as quickly as possible."

The carcass of the bear that was killed by DOW officers underwent a necropsy at Colorado State University. The stomach contents of the bear demonstrated that the bear was using human-provided food sources. This is almost always the case with bears involved in human conflicts. A package of hamburger and an ice cream-container were found in the bear's stomach.

There are several transient camps in the area of Durango where the attack occurred. These camps can attract bears due to easy access to trash and food.

City of Durango Wildlife Ordinance

On May 18, 2010, the Durango City Council passed, in a 4-1 vote, a city wildlife ordinance meant to reduce the availability of trash to bears and other wildlife. The ordinance went into effect in late May.

In a nutshell, if wildlife is not getting into your trash, nothing is required of you. However, in the event that your trash gets strewn, you will be required to store your trash in a secure location or 2) obtain a wildlife-resistant or wildlife-proof trash container, and 3) abide by hours of container placement rules.

The ordinance is complaint-driven. Bear Smart Durango encourages residents to report any bear-strewn trash immediately to City Code Enforcement at 375-4930.

The feeding of wildlife is also addressed in the ordinance. You can download a copy of the ordinance here.

Chama NM bear

Neat bear sculpture in downtown Chama, NM. June 2010. (Click on photo for a larger view).