“Bear behavior is consistent and predictable. They spend all day looking for food and most conflicts with humans can be traced back to a human provided food source…” —Tim Kroening, CPW Area Wildlife Manager, in Colorado Parks and Wildlife newsletter, March 13, 2023)
Turns out, so is human behavior…
“‘I got the call, and I knew immediately it had to be her,’ said District Wildlife Manager Kelly Crane, who had personally spoken to Munson multiple times about the danger of feeding bears…” — John Ingold and Erin McIntyre, in their Colorado Sun report People are effectively training bears to get into trouble, and Colorado wildlife officials are sick of it, Oct. 17, 2019
But wait, social-media-speak has this to say…
“Now hiring professional bear huggers. Must have ability to hike in strenuous conditions, have the courage to crawl into a bear den, and have the trust in your coworkers to keep you safe during the process.” — New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Facebook post, as quoted in The Guardian’s March 22, 2023 issue
Hunh?
Last week, my paean to the Signs of Spring mentioned this season’s first black bear sighting in my home range, so this week it seems a good time to dig through some recent ‘bear aware’ warnings and advice, plus a couple of news stories about our species’ long-standing urge to cuddle and/or feed furry wild animals. In the case of NM Game and Fish’s (arguably ill-advised) attempt at some online humor, it contains a link to apply for a job as a state ‘Conservation Officer’, and a postscript did discourage actually crawling into bear dens. The other story uses the case of a woman killed by bears she’d been feeding from her front porch as a way to encourage people to stop training bears to associate food with humans, whether the food is provided intentionally or not.
I’ve lived, worked and played in bear country most of my life, so these cautionary tales of bears raiding trash cans, bird-feeders, backyard patios, backpacks, tents, open garages, unlocked vehicles (and occasionally kitchens and living rooms) are also familiar signs of spring — though I’ve noticed that as humans encroach ever more deeply into formerly wild habitat, the level of public knowledge of bear behavior seems to have decreased exponentially, despite various organizations’ attempts at Dispelling Myths and promoting Bear Safety Tips for home, camp, trail, and other outdoor pursuits. From leaving food and trash out and available, to setting an adored pooch free to sniff and harass anything that moves, to mistaking a furry 200-400+ pound wild animal for a possible cuddle pal, to attempting to snap a ‘viral’ selfie-with-wild-beast Face/Insta/Snap/Whats/Chat/Tok/Tube/ad nauseam image, humans keep pushing the envelope of ignorance until, inevitably, a bear charges, slaps and/or bites back. The surprised human cowers or runs, becoming in that moment a prey species. Then come impassioned citizens’ demands for bear ‘management’ — which too often translates to trapping or killing of ‘problem bears’ by wildlife authorities. This pattern seems a good example of a phenomenon I’ve been noting recently wherein humans, while seemingly so convinced of their planetary dominance as to be in the process of naming a geologic epoch after their own species, are far too often adopting a prey-like relationship with anything or anyone perceived as more powerful or mysterious than themselves, while advocating for other humans to manage or eradicate whatever has aroused fear. I’ll finish this post with some tips for avoiding and/or managing encounters with black bears and others among our dryland neighbors, but first a bit more on fear and behavior.
Earlier this week, I came across a fine essay about predator-prey relationships and their effects on ecosystems, by Jason Anthony in his Substack publication, Field Guide to the Anthropocene:
“In my thousands of miles of hiking and canoeing I’ve often felt like the wrong end of a magnet, watching most wild animals I encountered run, swim, or fly away. The pandemic revealed what happens when people shelter indoors for months at a time: wildlife moves into our neighborhoods and begins to live fuller lives. From the earliest days of humanity, we’ve been an omnivorous predator that spooked our edible neighbors, sure, but our impact now is far greater than that. It’s existential and pervasive across the tree of life.” — from the essay, Managing the Landscape of Fear, by Jason Anthony.
‘Ecology of fear’ is a concept that predators affect ecosystems by influencing prey species’ behaviors as well as by reducing prey population density. The ‘landscape of fear’ analogy extends this concept to include the psychological effects of fear on prey species’ choices of where to feed, and even whether to breed and raise young. Anthony extends this concept to include human-induced changes in earth’s habitat and climate, as with “unsustainable resource extraction and extraordinary population growth we’ve established a predatory presence across the globe that has left the community of life little place to hide.” Some time back, I explored the concept of ecosystems in the essay “Endless Forms Most Beautiful…” — over the next few posts, I’ll be examining how ignorance and fear have become powerful forces influencing human behaviors in the heavily-engineered ecosystems we all inhabit, and how these forces are being used as tools to influence and modify our behaviors — in relations with our wild-living neighbors, weather systems, habitat, and with each other.
Now, let’s get back to techniques for living, working and playing around some of our wild-living neighbors, shall we? Rather than advocating the management (or removal, offers the word devil on my shoulder) of ‘problem’ humans, it seems best to wrap up with educational words of wisdom from some wildlife management professionals over at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. (One thing to remember, all of the following advice is for Black Bears (Ursus americanis) — Ursus arctos horribilis (aka Old Griz’) is a tale for another day.)
First, on car camping in highly-used campgrounds…:
…on hiking…:
…and on encounters:
All solid advice, much of it applicable to co-existing with most of the species that one senses in the brush along favored recreational pathways, or bumping around out there in the dark. Next up, we’ll explore some recent reports of another species humans have elevated to the realm of fearsome mythological powers, with Cougar in Camp!: On Navigating an Ecosystem of Fear, Part 2. Until then, comment or otherwise react and check out the links below if you’d like, and please leave bear-hugging to highly trained professionals. Instead, let’s help each other enjoy this great planet we live upon. — B.
For more on the ecology of fear concept, check this article from Current Biology.
Here’s an easy to navigate link for tips on at-home co-existence in bear country, from BearWise.org: