A fed bear is a dead bear

Our communal repertoire of bear stories grows each year. Unfortunately most of the stories have to do with bears raiding Dumpsters and garbage cans and breaking into houses, feasting on the contents of refrigerators. The stories of discreet observations of bears in the wild are fewer.

The black bear's natural diet consists mostly of berries, nuts, insects, grasses and small mammals. In late summer and fall they have to eat 20,000-25,000 calories a day to see them through the winter. The increasing human presence in areas where bears roam has given the bears a reliable year-round food source: Dumpsters, garbage cans, houses, cars and campsites. Here they find high caloric, fatty foods: burgers and fries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, etc. which guarantee a reduced forage time, from half of the day to a mere two hours.

Bears living around humans grow twice as big and fat as those in the wild.

In bear habitat, where humans are not involved, female bears produce no more cubs than nature can sustain. Their aim is to survive and during lean years they will often not bear offspring. When human food is available, however, the bears confidently have multiple births and take their young along to this never-ending food supply. The young grow up and continue the cycle, becoming less fearful of people and creating more of a problem in towns. But, as the Alpine County Sheriff's Department's bear information sheet states, "Bears aren't really the problem: people are." When there is no food bears will move on.

On Nov. 19, 1996, the board of supervisors passed an ordinance which requires all commercial businesses to use bear proof Dumpsters and to keep the lids closed and secured after disposing of garbage. Those who fail to comply are to be warned then cited. This summer businesses have been out of compliance with this ordinance, some occasionally, others frequently.

Chris Branscombe of the sheriff's department reports that no citations have been issued recently. She also says that private citizens can be cited for putting out garbage cans the day before collection.

Bear proof garbage containers are not yet required for residential use in this area. However, resident Gordon Heimerer takes this responsibility seriously. For eight years he has been using a large metal tool box which fits two garbage cans.

Manufactured by Greenlea and available from Home Depot the box costs $300-$400 (far cheaper than bins built specifically for the purpose). He advises not to attach the container to the ground as this gives the bear leverage. Bears shake the box but have never been able to get into it.

Resident Marie Bravo has trained as a volunteer of The Bear League, an organization started in Lake Tahoe in 1998, which works with government agencies to educate people living in or visiting bear country and to assist in addressing bear problems. It helps people to learn to co-exist with wildlife in our neighborhoods. One of Marie's commitments is to remind businesses to secure their dumpsters. She suggests borrowing the movie "The Man Who Walks with Bears" from our library.

The Department of Fish and Game states: "...the goal of the statewide black bear policy is to minimize damage to private property without posing a threat to local bear populations." The agency attempts to re-educate nuisance bears through aversion programs. This involves the use of bear dogs, rubber bullets and other devices to make the area undesirable to offending bears. They are sometimes transported a few miles away from towns into bear habitat. There is no relocation program in California. To relocate is to transport at least 75 miles. Bears which become a threat to human safety in ways such as breaking into houses are shot.

Thanks to Carl Lackey, Marie Bravo, Paula Pennington, Gordy Heimerer, Chris Branscombe and The Bear League: (530) 525- PAWS.