For Release: Thursday, July 8, 2004

DEC Offers Tips to Help Prevent Black Bear Encounters

Campers, Hikers, and Homeowners Can All Help Deter Bears

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Erin M. Crotty today reminded campers, hikers and homeowners to take precautions against negative encounters with black bears while enjoying the outdoors, particularly in the Adirondack, Catskill and Allegany regions of New York State.

"Black bears are an important part of New York's wildlife community," Commissioner Crotty said. "A healthy bear population reflects well on New York's efforts to protect the environment, but residents and visitors must ensure that the they protect themselves, their possessions, and the bear population."

Black bears are large mammals with black fur; erect, rounded ears; a long, narrow, brown muzzle; and a short tail. An average adult male weighs about 300 pounds while females average about 170 pounds. Black bears are omnivorous, eating grasses, berries, fruit, nuts, seeds, insects, grubs, and carrion, as well as human sources of food like corn, honey, bird seed, trash, and pet food when available.

The Adirondack region, with 5,000 bears, contains the largest bear population in New York. The Catskill region contains 1,500 bears, and the Allegany region 300 bears. In recent years, bears have been increasing the size of their range outside of these core areas.

Bears are intelligent and curious animals that spend a great deal of time exploring for food, and this can bring them close to humans. While a bear's eyesight is as good as a human's, they mainly rely on their sense of smell to locate food. Bears are powerful animals and can turn over large rocks and tear apart logs in their efforts to obtain natural foods. They can easily tear apart backpacks, tents, coolers and food storage bags. Bears have also been known to break car windows in their search for food. Once bears associate a certain location or activity with food, they will continue to frequent that location and repeat the activity.

When bears learn to obtain food from humans, they become bold and aggressive. A bear's natural foraging habits and behavior are changed. Usually solitary, bears can be concentrated in areas causing stress, injuries from physical conflicts, and spread of diseases. Also when feeding from human sources, bears will often eat unhealthy materials such as soap, shaving cream, insect repellant, and food packaging, among other items.

Obtaining food from humans is not good for both bears and humans. The intentional feeding of bears is illegal and unwise. The best way to avoid negative encounters with bears is to prevent unintentional feeding of bears and thus prevent them from associating humans with a food source.

Black Bears Around Residences:

Black bears will become a nuisance and can cause significant damage in communities if they believe they can obtain an easy meal from bird feeders, garbage cans, dumpsters, barbecue grills, tents, vehicles, out-buildings or houses. Once a bear becomes a problem, DEC is often asked to relocate the bear. However, bear relocations are rarely effective at solving the problem. Relocated bears often return to their original capture site or simply continue their bad habits at a new location. If the circumstances that led to the original problem are not corrected, other bears will quickly be attracted to the site and the human/bear conflicts will persist. Bears are extremely mobile and have excellent homing abilities. The simplest way to avoid a nuisance encounter is to remove all food sources.

Because virtually all nuisance bear problems are the result of hungry bears being attracted to human food, pet food, bird food or garbage, these problems can be minimized by taking these simple precautions:

Never feed bears - it's against the law;
If you believe that bears are being fed, immediately report it to DEC;
Stop feeding birds as soon as the snow melts. Birds do not need supplemental food in the summer, when natural foods are most abundant. Clean up all seed fragments and shells left over from winter feeding as the smell will attract bears; Dispose of garbage as frequently as possible. Store it in clean, secure containers (top-latched, tied or chained). Sprinkle ammonia inside the garbage bag before closing. Tie off garbage bag before placing in container;
Keep garbage in cans inside buildings whenever possible;
If garbage is picked up at the curb, put the garbage out just before the scheduled pickup or place it in a roadside bear-resistant container. Do not put garbage out the night before curbside pick-up;
Clean garbage cans frequently with ammonia;
Do not add meat scraps, bones or melon rinds to your compost pile;
Do not burn garbage, especially meat scraps and grease;
Clean barbecue grills before night fall and, after they cool down, store them inside;
Feed pets indoors and store pet food indoors. If pets must be fed outdoors, take in all uneaten food and dishes before dark;
Turn off kitchen exhaust fans that vent to the outside whenever possible.

Hikers and Campers:

Hikers and campers can prevent negative encounters with bears, through the proper storage and management of bear attractants such as food and trash. While hiking and camping in New York, follow these practices:

Store food, toiletries and garbage in bear resistant containers or "food hangs." If you have no choice but to hang your food be sure to use a dark colored cord. The cord should be 75 feet long and the bag should be hung 15 feet above the ground and at least 10 feet away from trees.
Keep food in hangs or in bear resistant container at all times, take down only what is needed for cooking. Bear resistant canisters are a highly effective means for preventing bears from getting food, toiletries and garbage from back country campers. DEC will soon propose a regulation requiring the use of bear resistant containers in the Eastern High Peaks Wilderness beginning in 2005.
Never leave food unattended.
Never cook or eat in your sleeping area.
Cook early, no later than 5 p.m.

When camping in developed campgrounds campers should follow these rules:

Do not leave coolers or food out at any time. Store them securely in either the trunk of your car or in the passenger area of your truck. Keep windows shut and food and coolers out of sight.
Where food lockers are provided, food and coolers must be stored and locked inside.
Clean up immediately after all meals.
Keep grills, pots, pans, cooking utensils, and wash basins clean when not in use.
Do not wash dishes under the water faucets.
Do not put grease, garbage, plastic diapers, cans, bottles or other refuse into the fireplace.
Do not keep food or coolers in your tent.
Do not wear clothing to bed that was worn while preparing or eating meals.
Keep campsites as clean as possible. Bring all garbage and recyclables to the recycling center each day by 8 p.m.

While these rules are required to be followed at DEC campgrounds, campers at other private and public campgrounds are also strongly encouraged to follow these practices to avoid bear encounters.

The glimpse of a black bear at a distance is a thrill to be enjoyed; close encounters with bears, however, should be avoided. Never approach or surround a bear as bears aggressively defend themselves when they feel threatened or cornered. Be cautious around cubs as adult female bears are protective of their young.

Do not throw backpacks or food bags at an approaching bear, this practice will only encourage bears to approach and "bully" people to get food. Use noise to scare bears away - yell, clap or bang pots immediately upon sighting a bear near your campsite. Never run from a bear, if you feel threatened, back away slowly while yelling at the bear. Avoid walking trails at night to prevent chance encounters.

Visit the DEC website for additional information about bears in New York State and the initiatives DEC is employing to help study and manage the population.

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