Not sure what to do if you see a bear? Check out the Ojai Wildlife League OWL website
Thanks to Cory Sipper and her husband Brad, the OWL website is up:
www.ojaiwildlifeleague.com
The following is a good example of what you will learn from the website.
Being Bugged by a Bothersome Bear? Get Educated
The first thing a bear thinks about and his prime motivation is FOOD!
* Bears have a tremendous sense of smell which guides them on their search for food.
* Bears are attracted to residences in the quest for an easy meal.
* Bear problems tend to be temporary. If the bear doesn't find food, he moves on.
* Bear problems need to be addressed on a neighborhood basis. You can do all the right things but, if your neighbors don't, the bear will stay around.
Black bears are generally docile.
* When given a way to avoid conflict with people, they usually take it.
* Bears are not vindictive and do not "get mad" when garbage or food is removed.
Black bears are smart.
* They learn rapidly and know where they have found food in the past. Once they have hit "pay dirt" they may damage property to get the food source again.
* Bears can pry open doors, windows, dumpsters or other structures if they can get their claws or teeth into a crack or opening. Normally they will do this only if they smell food inside or have "been lucky" before. They can easily tear through screens.
Black bears climb trees when frightened.
* Treed bears will usually come down if left alone. They may remain in a tree for several days.
Goverment policy
* There is NO bear relocation program in the state of California.
* The California Department of Fish and Game WILL NOT relocate bears.
When a complaint is registered about a problem bear that involves a threat to personal safety, or property damage, a depradation permit is issued. A trap is set and ANY bear that enters the trap is destroyed.
People who create situations where bears get food, begin a cycle which usually results in the death of a bear.
What Can You Do? Be Responsible and Take Action!
Eliminate or mask garbage and food odors.
* Put unscented ammonia or unscented PineSol* ON THE FOOD inside every bag.
* Deodorize garbage can with bleach, uncsented ammonia or unscented PineSol.*
* Separate wet garbage" and keep in an air and odor tight container. Use garbage disposal
whenever possible. Freeze meat bones or other smelly items until pick-up day.
* "Deodorize" soil or other porous surfaces where garbage has been stored and other areas where the bear may have spread garbage around.
* Clean the BBQ, especially the drip pan.
Eliminate the source.
* Install a "Bear Proof" garbage container. There are several excellent examples now available for purchase.
* Request a "Bear Proof" dumpster for neighborhoods or homeowner groups, cabin or apartment complexes, and especially restaurants Call your disposal company.
* Put garbage out on the morning of pick-up, not on the night before (and certainly not all week
long!!). If you can't be there to put it out, ask a neighbor to help or take it with you for disposal elsewhere.
* Don't feed pets outside and don't leave pet food outside.
* Don't leave food in vehicles or tents. This includes toothpaste, lotions, gum or candy. Clean food from baby seats. Leave NO dispers, clean or soiled, in vehicles.
* Remove freezers, refrigerators, picnic baskets and ice chests stored in open porches, garages and breeze ways.
* Compost piles can be a serious attractant.
* Rinsing recyclables isn't enough, they recognize this as garbage and will still forage through it.
Keep it out of sight.
* Bring bird feeders and suet in at night or whenever there is no one at home. Bears will climb trees
to reach an upper deck feeder.
NEVER FEED BEARS!
Inspect your property.
* Close windows at night on accessible ground floors and decks.
* Don't leave pies, baked goods, or any food in or near a window sill or on a counter where visible. Sights and smells can be invitations to bears.
* Securely block any access to potential hibernation/den sites, i.e. under decks, houses or sheds before a bear decides to take up residence.
* Strengthen or fortify outside doors and windows on sheds, cellars, workshops, garages or any place where food or garbage is kept.
* PineSol's oil base evaporates slower and the scent remains.
Reprinted with permission from www.savebears.org
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Comments (23)
The bears in LA County are not destroyed. They are tranquilized and returned to the wild. Who does this if not Fish and Game?
Comment #1 Posted by: Cara | October 28, 2009 07:44 AM
what is your source on that statement?
Comment #2 Posted by: sources | October 28, 2009 08:23 AM
Hi Cara,
I read/hear conflicting things about what actually happens to tranquilized bears, especially after they fall from a great height that likely causes injuries. I would greatly appreciate your source for LA County so I can pass it on to our local group. At the moment it does appear that how the state policy is applied varies across the state.
Pedro Nava mentioned this in recent Ventura County and Santa Barbara News-Press articles.I'll find his quote and copy it here.
Comment #3 Posted by: Suza | October 28, 2009 09:14 AM
"Nava said his office was flooded with calls from constituents expressing outrage. He said there are successful programs in and around Yosemite, in which bears are tranquilized, tagged and released. The ear tag informs hunters not to eat the meat because it could be contaminated by the tranquilizer."
“There is so much discretion across the state, depending on whose neighborhood the bear is in,” Nava said. “If you are that unfortunate bear and you are found in Yosemite, you’ll probably live. But in Ojai, apparently not. And that doesn’t make sense to me.”
Source:
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2009/oct/23/Ojai-bear-killing-spurs-new-group-possible/
Comment #4 Posted by: Suza | October 28, 2009 09:19 AM
From a new BBC film, Bearwalker of the Northwoods:
Bears are not ferocious. Lynn Rogers is adamant about that. He said he has never heard a bear roar or even growl, and that in all of his years of close proximity to the animals he has never been seriously hurt even though in his early years he displayed what he calls "bad bear manners".The bears he knows are timid creatures. Defensive postures, such as swatting their large paws on the ground, are mistaken for aggression by many people.
"In my 42 years of working closely with bears and testing every no-no, I have not found a way of getting a bear to attack. The more I push them the more they try to get away. They might want to nip and slap, but it is not an attack, it is just a way of fending me off so they can find a way to escape."
It's humans who are the more dangerous animal, he said. "If you look at the statistics, one black bear out of a million kills somebody. With grizzly bears it's one in 50,000. Among humans it's one person out of 18,000 kills somebody. So you could see why I would feel a lot less comfortable in the city than in the woods next to a bear."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/oct/27/black-bears-of-the-northwoods
Comment #5 Posted by: Wayne Thompson | October 28, 2009 09:50 AM
The bears that killed me and my female companion in Alaska never made a sound.
Comment #6 Posted by: Grizzly Man | October 28, 2009 09:54 AM
Thank you Wayne Thompson!
I am appalled by my own ignorance that day the Bear was in the tree, but even more appalled by the ignorance of DFG officials who are supposed to be experts on bear behaviour.
Comment #7 Posted by: Suza | October 28, 2009 09:56 AM
Bearwalker of the Northwoods is on BBC Two, at 8pm today, Wednesday, October 28.
Comment #8 Posted by: Bear on BBC | October 28, 2009 10:33 AM
On the home page of Lynn Rogers site is a wonderful National Geographic video clip as well as everything else anyone would want to know about his work, etc.
http://www.bearstudy.org/website/
If only everyone on the planet would visit his site!
I will post this link on
www.OjaiWildlifeLeague.com
Comment #9 Posted by: Cory Sipper | October 28, 2009 01:20 PM
Just thought I'd post this after the comment about LA County and Suza's guidelines....it's interesting. According to DFG there have been a whole 12 bear attacks in CA since 1980, and the main reason for the attacks (1) food (as Suza'a post cautions against) and (2) a mother with cubs. Plus, as Wayne's post concerning Lynn Rogers - there were no deaths caused by the bears - they retreated....but sadly in many cases they were hunted down an destroyed.
CA Bear Attacks 1980 to present
Comment #10 Posted by: Ginny | October 29, 2009 01:21 PM
Just thought I'd post this after the comment about LA County and Suza's guidelines....it's interesting. According to DFG there have been a whole 12 bear attacks in CA since 1980, and the main reason for the attacks (1) food (as Suza'a post cautions against) and (2) a mother with cubs. Plus, as Wayne's post concerning Lynn Rogers - there were no deaths caused by the bears - they retreated...but sadly many were still hunted down and destroyed.
CA Bear Attacks 1980 to present
Comment #11 Posted by: Ginny | October 29, 2009 01:34 PM
It is against the law to “relocate” bears, or any other wildlife in California (Fish & Game Code Sec. 2118) that’s why there isn’t a relocation program. You can find Fish & Game’s bear policy on their website (www.dfg.ca.gov) if you are confused. They also have a bear brochure that you can download. Click on the nuisance wildlife box and follow the bear link.
Regarding bears relocated in Los Angeles, bears that have not caused problems or threats to public safety can be darted and returned to the nearest habitat according to DFG’s policy. Bears are usually released in the own home range and the bears will return if garbage and other human food sources remain available. Fish & Game captured and released a bear yesterday in La Crescenta.
Comment #12 Posted by: Kay | November 12, 2009 07:49 PM
My sources tell me that this bear was not released back into the wild. He was supposedly taken to a wildlife rehab location. We are working on this to get the facts.
Comment #13 Posted by: Suza | November 12, 2009 08:17 PM
Whispers, un-named sources, government conspiracy theories…I hope this won’t become one of THOSE sites.
Comment #14 Posted by: Kay | November 13, 2009 07:57 AM
My sources are listed in previous articles. Click Aliso Street Bear link at top of the Resource column.
Comment #15 Posted by: Suza | November 13, 2009 10:48 AM
Still I have to agree with Kay...more appropriate would be, "According to X..." and instead of "supposedly" perhaps hold the comment until you know for sure, and indicate which wildlife rehabilitation unit. And who is "we?"
Comment #16 Posted by: cite your sources | November 13, 2009 11:03 AM
You're so right...that would have been more appropriate. In this case my source is someone who works in willife rescue and rehab. I'm still waiting for an update...
Comment #17 Posted by: Suza | November 13, 2009 12:08 PM
Any story that begins with, "I heard that..." is usually false.
Based upon the news stories I found on the web, there are apparently only two facilities permitted to handle bears in California, they only take cubs, and both have been full since the spring.
Sounds like a tall tale.
Comment #18 Posted by: Kay | November 13, 2009 01:33 PM
Kay, I'm not sure what your motivation is with these jabs, but, if I may point out, when someone says "based upon," and "apparently," one also wonders about the source.
I'm not hiding behind the cloak of anonymity. It so happens that I have at least four friends named Kay-- at first I thought you were one of them.
Comment #19 Posted by: Suza | November 13, 2009 02:10 PM
In addition to facilities permitted to handle bears in California, there is private land that does not allow hunting. Just to be clear, the reason we questioned the LA Times and TV news story is that DFG does not allow tranquilized bears to be released into the wild during hunting season. This point was made several times by the DFG warden at the City Council meeting held after the bear was killed.
Comment #20 Posted by: Suza | November 13, 2009 02:21 PM
Here is The Associated Press version of the story:
La Crescenta black bear cornered, tranquilized
"LOS ANGELES — Authorities have captured a black bear that was seen roaming neighborhoods in the La Crescenta area.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and state Department of Fish and Game agents tranquilized the bear Wednesday afternoon after cornering it in the backyard of a La Crescenta home.
Authorities say the bear, estimated to weigh between 100 and 150 pounds, was placed on a stretcher and hoisted onto a truck. The bear was to be medically treated and then released in the Angeles National Forest.
The department received several calls Tuesday night about a bear in the same area, but deputies couldn't find the animal."
(Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:18 p.m.)
Comment #21 Posted by: Suza | November 13, 2009 02:44 PM
One more article on the La Cresenta Bear.
(Click link below the article to see interesting Comments.)
Fish and Game Bear Re-location Policy Explained
"Instead of shooting them or leaving them in neighborhoods, why can't the Department of Fish and Game relocate problem bears to other areas?
Some Mammoth residents have posed that question.
When a story in the Los Angeles Times reported the relocation of a bear roaming neighborhoods in La Crescenta, the same question came up again.
The LA Times reported that Fish and Game agents and Sheriff's deputies responded to the report of the bear wondering through neighborhoods. The Fish and Game agent shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun. The bear was then transferred to a truck and dropped off in the Angeles National Forest.
Why can't this happen to Mammoth's bears?
Patrick Foy of the Department of Fish and Game said that most bears that come in contact with people are "too dependent on human food to be moved."
Foy said that in the case of the bear in the La Crescenta area, the bear was not habituated to human food and so was transported 20 air miles away.
Foy said bears used to human food would travel that far to get back to a neighborhood, so moving them is pointless.
"The bears you see in dumpsters," said Foy, "won't be relocated. We just can't do that. The bears go to great lengths to come back to human food."
Source:
http://news.sierrawave.net/eastern-sierra-news/2713
Written by Benett Kessler Thursday, 12 November 2009 16:33
Comment #22 Posted by: Suza | November 14, 2009 05:22 PM
not sure who is sillier, the 'dancing' bear or the videographer ... (or editor!)
Xus Bear Dance
Comment #23 Posted by: silly twain | November 15, 2009 10:01 AM