The Bear Necessities to Peaceful Coexistence

More Habitat Means Less Scavenging

If we decrease the convenience of household garbage and bird/pet feeders, we also decrease urban and suburban bear scavenging, and problematic bear encounters and nuisance bear behavior.

If we increase interconnected natural bear habitat via wildlife corridors, we also increase the bears foraging happily and safely in the wild, away from human settlements.

Black bear sightings can be exciting and heart-warming, but staying at a distance while maintaining bear habitat helps keep bears (and people) safe and happy — for years to come.

By helping to preserve wilderness, and by never feeding, luring, or approaching bears, we keep the bears eating in their natural habitat, safe from misunderstandings. Bears that scavenge from garbage cans, bird feeders, and human handouts, teach their young to do the same, approaching other humans who may be afraid or hostile; but wilderness-foraging bears teach their young to forage in the wilderness as they have from time immemorial.

What can you do? Quite a lot actually. By following and sharing these simple guidelines with your neighbors, you can help create bear smart communities that promote harmony with wilderness. Your neighbors commitment to the same guidelines helps protect you and your community.

6 BearWise Rules to Live By in Bear Country

1. Don’t feed or approach bears — That just encourages them to associate people with food and puts both of you at risk.
2. Secure food, garbage and recycling — They can smell it from a mile away.
3. Remove bird feeders while bears are active — They like the high caloric birdseed and grains.
4. Don’t leave your pet food outside — Are you seeing a theme here?
5. Clean and store your outdoor grill — Did we mention how sensitive bears are to smells?
6. Let your neighbors know — Share recent bear sightings to reduce the chance of problems.

For the full black bear nitty gritty, check out BearWise.org

Additionally, get behind private organizations and public legislation that create and link wilderness corridors, land trusts, and wildlife preserves.

Things to Bear in Mind

Black bears once inhabited every corner of the continent. Now, their populations have been pushed to more mountainous, swampy, and rugged regions. While Western North Carolina is still home to black bears, they’re struggling to adapt to climate change depleting their food sources (primarily nuts, acorns, berries, roots, and oak caterpillars and other insects) and to fragmented habitats -they need to roam to forage for sufficient food and to mate and raise their cubs. To help them survive, we need to help them successfully range in wilderness, rather than becoming reliant on foraging from dumpsters, cans, and bird feeders because nothing else is available.

Feel the Love

To know black bears is to love them.

• Bears are smart: Research has shown they can perform complex numerical tasks and identify themselves in the mirror.
• They’re shy, NOT ferocious: Black bears are not mean or malicious. They’re normally shy, retiring, and very playful animals. Most of their diet is insects and vegetable matter.
• Bears are inquisitive: They’ll inspect odors, noise, and objects to determine if they’re edible or play-able. Standing on their hind legs allows black bears to get more information from their senses. Take it as a sign of curiosity, not necessarily aggression.
• They make good mothers: Mama bears are devoted and attentive to their young, and will try to protect their beloved cubs from perceived threats, so give them space.
• Their nose knows: They have an astounding sense of smell 100 times better than ours.
• Their eyesight is keen: Bears see in color, have acute night vision and see well close up.