"Or they might find their food by scavenging roadkill or preying on small mammals or deer. But when higher calorie, more plentiful human-provided food is accessible, like trash and agriculture... bears seize the opportunity for an easy meal. Bambi Gambino, the co-owner of Country Eatery in Woodbury, said that this year bears began making a mess of the restaurant’s trash more frequently.... Mr. Hawley believes the problem isn’t being solved, in part, because Connecticut is the only state without a hunting season — other than Rhode Island, which doesn’t have many bears...."
From
"Black Bears in Connecticut Are Eating Grapes and Entering Homes/Bears and humans are increasingly getting in each other’s way, presenting problems for both species" (NYT).
I'm mainly blogging this because I love the name Bambi Gambino. And that bit about hunting.
Also I thought acorns were very high protein, but I see they can't compare to meat. Stop throwing meat in the trash, maybe.
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38 comments:
Bears are going to go where the food is. If you move into their neighborhood and bring some along, you'd have to be an idiot to think they won't be interested in what you might have.
I asked Copilot AI, "Are there devices available that hold garbage, trash and other bear attractive foods that keep bears out?"
The answer ...
"Yes. In fact, there is an entire category of products called bear-resistant containers or bear-resistant trash receptacles. They are widely used in bear country across the U.S. and Canada for garbage, recycling, pet food, bird seed, livestock feed, camp food, and other attractants. Many are tested and certified under standards developed by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC). Products must pass testing involving actual bears or technical evaluations to be listed as bear-resistant."
Duh! Yogi was stealing pick-a-nick baskets back when I was a kid.
Like humans, bears would rather chow down on some fatty meat, sweets, and cheetos than eat acorns and berries.
Bears are pretty smart. One half expects them to start picking locks soon.
Gorilla Glue certifies their products after testing by Gorilla Suit Wearer.
I sent away to Colorado for a bear resistant trash receptacle for the tipper truck but not for bears, for raccoons. I had three heavy weight bungees on the trash lid but a four foot tall raccoon could still pull it up. Bear can works great…
…we gave bears in Nevada. If they don’t have food access they move on. Some newbies put out pumpkins and the bears had fun…
the nevada neighborhood all the houses have trash rooms. So far the bears aren’t getting in…
…they wrecked an outdoor fridge on the golf course so management put out electric mats- the bears jump straight up just like in the cartoons when they hit those..:
In the 1970s, the Pennsylvania Game Commission suspended bear season for a few years (wrongly thinking they were scarce). Bears quickly decided the humans were no longer dangerous. I knew people who had homes or camps in the deep forest, and bears quickly became a problem. The state reinstated the bear season, and the bears started avoiding humans again.
Here in Montana if bears become accustomed to feeding off human trash they are either relocated far away from humans or they are euthanized. Usually, the relocation doesn't work. Many people unfamiliar with bear behavior think that feeding them is cute and fun and helpful. It's actually a death sentence.
"Stop throwing meat in the trash..."
Just because she dresses like a ho at the gym is no reason to call her trash. A little civility would be nice in here.
The GLP-1 companies are owned by bears, Jewish bears.
Hunting isn't going to put much of a dent in the bear population. There just aren't enough hunters out there interested in harvesting a big, greasy, black critter.
The real problem is congestion. There are just too many people in Connecticut.
Was Bambi a name before the Disney movie?
Dumpster-dive meat-ups are now multi-especies. Accommodations is a wonderful thing.
A search for "Bambi Gambino" only results in pictures of Donald Glover.
“There are just too many people in Connecticut.“
I’ve always thought of it as a road stop on the way to NYC.
Summing up the comments in the Times -
"We are the problem, not the bears."
“Joe Bar said…
Hunting isn't going to put much of a dent in the bear population. There just aren't enough hunters out there interested in harvesting a big, greasy, black critter.”
The question is, can the bears distinguish between a human holding a long gun vs an unarmed human? Because if they can’t then they might just be wary of all of us, all the time.
I’ve seen YouTube videos of black bears opening doorknobs, unlocked car doors, and unlocked sliding glass doors. They are smart buggers and a 200 lb bear can kill you and eat you.
Wife and I live reasonably close to the George Washington National Forest, and I’ve had a black bear come up on our deck at night to raid our bird feeders (now we bring them in at dusk). Scared crap out of me at the time because I had sold my competition rifle and side by side, and had no long gun in the house.
Disney Bambi is a buck. Prob transition to doe in remake
Hell yeah....You ever eaten an acorn? They're terrible. Trash pizza for the win.
"... a 200 lb bear can kill you and eat you."
Sometimes they don't even bother killing you first, which is just rude.
The problem will mostly be from the restaurants. Their food is cooked and designed to smell tasty, and that's a strong attractant.
Usually enterprising hog farmers will work a deal with a restaurant to get their food waste. It's excellent for growing hogs and getting them fattened up. The solution is segregated food waste from restaurants (and groceries) into transportable bear-proof containers.
"...I thought acorns were very high protein, but I see they can't compare to meat. Stop throwing meat in the trash, maybe."
Autumn and winter bear food is largely fat. While it is true that acorns contain only small amounts of protein, protein isn't what overwintering mammals and birds need or instinctively crave; it's calories, and nothing is more calorie-dense than fat. Consider the polar bear, the largest land carnivore extant, and certainly the most carnivorous of the bruins. Their normal diet consists of seals and other pinnipeds, which they devour down to the bone during the warmer months. But when they stock up for the worst of the Arctic cold, they eat only the fattiest parts of the kill, and leave the meat for gulls and other scavengers. Grizzlies and brown bears do the same when they prey on spawning salmon. They eat the oil-rich skin and ignore the rest of the carcass.
Connecticut black bears do not face such lean and lengthy winters as do Grizzlies living north of the 49th parallel, but it isn't chilly weather that influences their dietary drives. It's the shortening hours of daily light. Consequently, they seek out calorie-dense food in autumn regardless of minor climate fluctuations.
Restaurant food is too expensive for most people to leave much meat behind, but fat and starch is pretty significant in the the leftovers -- buttered bread, the remains of baked potato with sour cream and chives, half-eaten salad drenched in olive oil, desserts ordered and yet ignored by diners enjoying the conversation more than the pie à la mode -- that's most restaurant garbage, and very attractive to dumpster-diving bears.
I doubt hunting or the lack of it has much to do with Connecticut's problem, except indirectly. Even in states with tens of thousands of enthusiastic hunters roaming the woods every autumn, bears are not a popular quarry. Bear-meat isn't the best eating, and the demand for taxidermy is historically low. Modern hunters are after deer, elk, introduced antelope (nilgai), and especially feral swine -- critters that make many tastes meals from one kill. Connecticut is overrun with white-tailed deer. It's no accident that Lyme disease is named for a town in Connecticut. Overabundant deer lead inexorably to overabundant bears. And when overabundant bears lose their fear of humans, they you get situations reported by people named Bambi.
Typo alert: It's the shortening hours of daily light.
I meant to type daylight, not daily light.
I blame Google.
“FullMoon said…
Disney Bambi is a buck. Prob transition to doe in remake”
And from a white tail deer to a black tail deer.
There are bear proof dumpsters around. Towns in the Sierra Nevadas have had them for years. Too bad that it looks like Connecticut won't learn until there are a few injuries and deaths. Maybe that purple haired goggle wearing congresswoman of theirs will become cogent long enough to help them.
Bambi Gambino, the queen of the Connecticut Mob.
We stayed at a rental cabin near Sevierville, Tennessee for about a week and there were reminders everywhere to lock your car, use the locks on the trash bins and, above all, lock all doors (all of them had knobs, not handles) because bears are very clever.
Josephbleau said...
"Bambi Gambino, the queen of the Connecticut Mob."
Run, Bambi, run!
We need to breed fewer adventurous Yogis and more cautious Boo Boos.
My great fear is that while I am still trying to sort out the protocols for dealing with black bears, as opposed to brown bears, the bear will have time to devour me.
"Connecticut’s bears might choose to spend an entire autumn day beneath stands of white oak and black cherry trees, feasting on acorns that fall on the forest floor."
Don’t they have Hunny Pots in Connecticut?
Rabel said...
Summing up the comments in the Times “We are the problem, not the bears."
Well, people can be unbearable.
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