Re: Fast-Food Nation TakesToll on Black Bears

Urban-living, Dumpster-diving bears at greater risk of death, experts say

By Brian Melley / Associated Press
Saturday, November 29, 2003

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- The habitat of Lake Tahoe bears is not defined by
their once-expansive range high in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains or
surrounding pine forests. Here, the black bear's domain can be measured in city
blocks.

A year-round supply of garbage has lured the beasts to the streets that ring
this resort area, known for its pristine blue waters, casinos and ski runs.

In settling into the easy life, the Tahoe bear has altered its hibernation
cycle, taken to prowling the graveyard shift and grown fatter than your average
bear.

The consequences can be deadly for the bears, according to a study in the
Journal of Zoology that documents behavioral changes as the bears have adapted
to a less-than-wild environment.

The study by Jon Beckmann and Joel Berger of the Wildlife Conservation Society
debunked assumptions that the bear population was booming.

Instead, it found bears were moving from the mountains to neighborhoods,
highlighting a growing problem across North America as housing creeps into
wildlands and animals take advantage.

Historically, black bears in the Tahoe basin roamed up to 150 square miles and
weighed 200 to 300 pounds, said Carl Lackey, a wildlife biologist with the
Nevada Department of Wildlife who helped with the study.

Not anymore.

"At one point we had 12 bears within one square mile of a Dumpster," Lackey
said. "Good ol' Burger King. Those Whoppers fed some whopper bears. We had
several in the 450- to 550-pound range."

For an animal with a 25,000-calorie-a-day diet, Dumpster diving is the fastest
food available. The bears get their fill in a few hours by covering little
ground compared with their wilder counterparts that spend more than 20 hours a
day foraging for berries, nuts and carrion.

Most bears retreat into dens for the winter because of dwindling food supplies.
The urban bears, however, have a steady supply of vittles, leading to shorter
hibernation periods. Five of the 38 bears studied around Tahoe didn't even take
their winter naps.

"They come out once a week -- garbage night," Lackey said.

On a rocky Nevada hilltop neighborhood overlooking casinos at the California
border, Janeen and Mark White peacefully coexisted with nature until recently.

Earlier this month, a bear tore open the bottom half of their metal garage door
and raided the garbage.

Two nights later, it returned for a freezer full of frozen fish from Alaska.
The bear overturned the ice box and ate a $400 seafood dinner. It returned the
following night, flipped the freezer again and finished off the remaining
salmon, crab and shrimp.

"You gotta wonder what's keeping them from coming through the front door and
going straight for the refrigerator," Mark White said.

Once bears get hooked on human food, their keen sense of smell and voracious
appetite can lead them into all kinds of trouble.

More bears are being hit by cars as they hunt for food closer to cities. And
when they bust into houses, wildlife officials will often kill them to protect
public safety. One bear was poisoned at a Tahoe trailer park where it had
become a nuisance.

Wildlife officials and sheriff's deputies have tried hazing bears with pepper
spray, chasing them with aggressive dogs and shooting them with rubber
bullets -- an approach that has helped reduce bear incidents at Yosemite
National Park by 75 percent in the last five years.

But Yosemite has an advantage over the two-state Tahoe area and its many layers
of government. It can alert every visitor about the problem, provide bear-proof
food storage and cite visitors who break rules, while regulations at Lake Tahoe
vary and are loosely enforced, said Ann Bryant of the Bear League.

Bryant has devoted the last five years working to save bears. She has worked to
get communities to pass ordinances, helped secure funding for bear-proof
Dumpsters and tried to teach people to change their habits to protect the
bears.

Already this year, Bryant has recorded 17 bear deaths on the California side of
the lake, compared to 15 last year, many involving vehicles.

Then there are the people: One older woman set out a batch of syrup-slathered
pancakes for the bears, and some parents smeared peanut butter on their
children's faces so they could photograph cubs licking it.

"The problem is not the bears," Bryant said. "The problem is the people."
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On the Net:

Wildlife Conservation Society: http://wcs.org

Tahoe Council for Wild Bears: http://www.tahoewildbears.org/

Nevada Department of Wildlife bear safety:

http://ndow.org/wild/animals/facts/bear -- aware.shtm

http://www.detnews.com/2003/nation/0311/30/nation-337312.htm