I hope my question doesn't seem silly. The past week we've had two middle-of-the night visits from what I am sure is a black bear. The critter has destroyed two of my birdfeeders and devoured a bag of trash I stupidly left on my front porch. My guess is she is hungry since food is scarce this time of year. Besides the obvious solutions of not leaving out trash and taking in the birdfeeder at night, what else can I do to keep bears away from my house at night? Would a porch light serve as a deterent? Shouldn't a bear normally be wary of going near a house? Thanks.

-- Amy Cook (acook@in4web.com), October 12, 2001

Answers

Black bears are just overgrown big raccoons, to which they are related!!!

The porch light will have no effect, but a canine deterrent is perfect, preferably a large black and tan German Shepard. He/she will also keep all other vermin/predators away from your yard, pastures and personal territory around the house and barns, both of the two legged and four legged variety. The German Shepard will deter the predators, not nessesarily kill the predators, so it is a humane solution as well as effective.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), October 12, 2001.

I'll be over in the a.m. as soon as I get my liscense.Always wanted a bear skin rug !

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 12, 2001.

Bring in the bird feeder at night. After a few weeks, and it remembers where it can get a free meal, it will stop comming around.Put all your garbage away.

-- Herb Miller (hwmil@aol.com), October 12, 2001.

Unfortunately, once a bear has learned that food can be had (even occasionally) at a particular place, they will revisit, sometimes even years later.

Lacing the bird seed liberally with cayenne pepper will usually discourage them from thinking that your bird feeders contain something tasty.

It might be worthwhile baiting the bear with food also laced with the cayenne so that it gets the idea that nothing around your place tastes good. Call up your local DNR office and get their help and advice.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), October 13, 2001.

Bears accustomed to feeding around humans quickly lose fear of humans and you will shortly have a really bad situation. Call DNR, in MO, it's the Conservation Dept., as they will have someone to deal with large, potentially dangerous nuisance animals. Once you have the problem solved, don't leave out a smorgasbord for the next guy. The suggestion about the shepherd is good but I wouldn't expect a single dog to deter a hungry bear. We had bears when we lived in Arkansas-- enough to warrant a hunting season for them and our Pyrs were wonderful to keep them away from our place. Bears from Arkansas' reintroduction program in the 50's and 60's are moving further north into MO but haven't reached our area yet. I've taken up hunting and you can rest assured I'll hunt bear if I get a chance. Their only "predator" is human activity (hunting, traffic, etc.) so I'll do my part to keep them in reasonable numbers just like I do with the deer.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), October 13, 2001.

Aside from a dog or two as was listed above, you might consider putting a hot wire around the house (& yard). It wouldn't stop the animal, but maybe a few good shocks might encourage it to move on. Beware if you have any livestock (sheep, cattle, poultry, etc...), as bears have been known to kill them. (Not everyone knows this.) You may even have to contact Fish & Game, if the critter persists on comming around.

Good luck

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (jawjlewis@netzero.net), October 13, 2001.

Thanks for the tips, folks. While a German Shepard isn't feasible right now, I'm wondering if my toy poodle will do the trick! :-) He's got a great bark and a silly haircut--the haircut alone should scare any bear away!

The bear didn't come around last night as far as I know. We left the porch light on (I'm sure it won't help). I think this is the same bear that charged by neighbor last year when he was working in his woods across the street from my house. Luckily, his Irish Wolfhound scared the bear away. This particular bear is too used to humans. I think I will call the environmental people on Monday and see what they have to say.

Patti, where in NY are you? We are in Sullivan County, about 90 miles northwest of NY city. If you want to come down and do some bear hunting be my guest! We don't hunt (yet) but I'm seriously considering it.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), October 13, 2001.

If you have a bear that is already charging people, most DEFINITELY call up the DNR or whoever is your local office that handles animal removal. This is only going to get worse, and black bears have been known to kill (and eat) people. Get that one removed.

If you continue bird feeding, start the cayenne pepper trick from here on out (it won't bother the birds at all, but the squirrels, raccoons and bears won't like it), and put all of your feeders up HIGH where any other bears can't reach it. You'll probably need a ladder to refill them, or they aren't high enough. Some people string them on a wire attached to two trees, so the feeders are far out of reach from ground or tree trunk for varmints. Do not ground feed anything like bread or seed.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), October 13, 2001.

We have a big bear around but have no problems because he smells the electric fence. He doesn't bother my rabbits who are near but not inside the electric fence. I told a friend who caught a bear eating her rabbit and it hasn't bother them since they put up an electric fence.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), October 13, 2001.

Yes. I think a hot wire is a good deterent (but anything, even a small dog, if angry enough will charge through it). However there are some types that let animals know it's there. Some are made to whistle on the wind, & some animals can smell the electricity. There may be some others but you'd have to do some research on them.

The most important thing now would be to talk to your neighbor (that the bear has already charged), & get him to back you up on haveing someone remove that bear. Ask your other neighbors if they've had any trouble with this bear also. Try to get them to either sign a statement about what happened to them (or what they saw), or have them write their own letter about what happened to them (or what they saw). A complaint about an animal is stronger when there is more then one. You can then use these signed statements or letters to add force on your complaint.

I know a hot wire is a temporary fix, but it might be worth putting up even after you get the problem bear removed. As it may prevent any future problems with other bears, bob cats, coyotes, etc... (Nothing worse then to come home & after you get out of the car you get cornered by some bear. You can't get to the house (a gun), your car, or any other building. At that time, be best you could hope for (other then someone coming to your rescue) is to get something (like a tree) between you & the bear, make a lot of noise (to attract help & hopefully annoy the bear into leaving peacefully), & pray.) It's a bad potental situation, but it can still happen (both before & after you get this bear removed), so be carefull. One fact of nature is that when an animal moves out of an area (or is removed), something else will take over it's teritory (usually the same species).

Good luck, & be carefull.

animalfarms

-- animalfarms (jawjlewis@netzero.net), October 15, 2001.

Amy , I am in St Lawremce county .20 min from Massena .If I only had time to come down and hunt !!!!!!!!!!!!! I would die for a bear skin rug.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 15, 2001.

animalfarms, I did talk to my neighbor yesterday. The bear lives back in the woods behind my neighbor's house, across the road. The woods are right across from my house, so I'm sure it came up from an old road through the woods. According to my neighbor, this bear is large and comes around his house regularly. It hasn't bothered him but it has come close to his house. This neighbor says he was charged by a smaller bear last year, so the bear that is bothering us may not be the same one that charged this neighbor.

My neighbor down the road was also charged by a bear about five months ago. I haven't spoken to that neighbor since this bear has come around my place. So, it's possible we have two problem bears around here.

I called the local DEC person and was given another number to call for the region. The local person was of no help whatsoever. I like your advice to get neighbors to band together with a complaint and will try that. My neighbor across the way is a private person, but he is a reasonable person and will probably go along with my complaint. The other neighbor isn't around much since they retired.

Patti, we live quite a ways from one another! Do you have bears up your way?

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), October 15, 2001.

While living in Alasaka we used the following procedure on bears with great success:

Eat It.

Properly processed they are delicious.

- Greybear

-- Got Spices ?

-- Greybear (greybear@worldemail.com), October 15, 2001.

Yes we have bear up here .There is one in my woods some where .He left his calling card behind {ie big piles of apple poop}

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), October 15, 2001.