HUNGRY BEARS DESPERATE AS WINTER APPROACHES

By Colorado Newsline

Bears are having a very bad year. Across much of the United States, a warm winter and persistent drought have decimated the natural foods that black and brown bears rely on. With nearly every station at the buffet in short supply, the adaptable eaters are turning to human food. 

From California to Connecticut, desperate bears have raided garbage cans, broken into homes and cars, torn through chicken coops and pulled down bird feeders. Wildlife officers in many states have received a record number of calls, working overtime through the summer to deter bears, put out traps and euthanize animals who pose persistent problems. 

“I’ve had officers who have had to work three weeks in a row, working 18-hour days, day after day,” said John Livingston, public information officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “We have been worried about the mental health of some of our officers who are dealing with these issues. Some of them are having to euthanize a lot of bears this year. Nobody gets into this line of work because they want to put down animals.”

In a typical year, Livingston said, Colorado will euthanize 60 to 90 bears that run afoul of the agency’s two-strike policy for bears that have caused property incidents and are deemed to pose a threat to communities. By the end of August this year, wildlife officers had already euthanized 294 bears. Many states are seeing similar increases.

State wildlife agencies say their officers are spread thin and have had to prioritize which human-bear conflicts to respond to. They have mostly focused on educating residents and removing attractants such as bird feeders and unsecured garbage cans from populated areas. In some states, lawmakers and wildlife officials have stiffened penalties for humans who feed bears, intentionally or otherwise. 

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[Photo: Douglas County Sheriff]