By Jessianne Castle EBS ENVIRONMENTAL & OUTDOORS EDITOR
BOZEMAN – When a black bear steals pizza from a plate at an outdoor restaurant, as occurred in Big Sky on Sept. 17, it may seem humorous at first. And it could sound funny to say the same bear tried to enter the Wilson Hotel through the automatic doors. Or maybe it’s living on the edge, an exciting phenomenon of living in bear country.
But when a
bear exhibits this kind of behavior—and shows no natural wariness of humans—Russ
Talmo equates that pizza with a dead bear.
“It’s not
necessarily a bear’s fault if the landscape is littered with these things,” he
said. “But me leaving my dog food on the porch is going to kill a bear. You
don’t necessarily make that connection until it happens.”
After
repeatedly dogging human development over the course of a week in the Big Sky
area, the pizza-stealing black bear was euthanized on Sept. 23 by wildlife
officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. According to a press release
sent by the department, officials felt the bear was too habituated to humans to
be relocated.
“It is sad
and frustrating anytime a bear has a to be removed from the population due to
conflict with humans, because most of these types of conflicts involving
backyard attractants like trash, fruit trees, chickens and other small
livestock are easily preventable,” Talmo said, adding that preventative
measures can be catered to a specific need.
“Anytime
you’re putting an attractant in a [bear-dense] area … any due diligence to take
the step to secure the attractant is forward thinking.”
One option
might be to opt for bear-resistant trash cans and use them scrupulously.
Another might be to get rid of the bird feeders. Or, depending on the
attractant, it could work to install an electric fence.
Talmo, the
Rockies and Plains Program Associate for the national conservation organization
Defenders of Wildlife, is the leader for the organization’s electric fence
incentive program and recently completed a project in Cooke City with the very
goal of preventing bears from getting too comfortable with people.
In
mid-September, Talmo spent an afternoon installing a small electric fence
around the community compost pile, working in partnership with the Cooke City
elementary and middle schools. He said he’s pleased with how it turned out, and
based on statistics, he expects it will work.
His team conducted
a survey of about half the 350 fence projects Defenders of Wildlife has
installed since 2010, and of those, 95 percent are still in use. Ninety-eight
percent of those in use have been effective and a bear conflict has not
occurred, he said, and the 2 percent that did have a bear incident were either
not turned on or not maintained.
Defenders of
Wildlife offers a cost-share incentive program that will reimburse 50 percent
of the cost of an electric fence up to $500 for securing any bear attractant.
This includes garbage sites, fruit trees and gardens. Often times, Talmo said
smaller projects fall into the $300 range, such as for a small beehive or
orchard, and on a case-by-case basis they may seek additional funding support
from partners like the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
Talmo works
with property owners through every step of the process, from fence design and
material selection to installation and maintenance.
“it is a
time-tested tool that works very well and it’s not rocket science,” he said.
“It’s pretty straight forward.”
Visit defenders.org/got-grizzlies for more information.
