by Laura Berthhold Monteros
Pictured: from the files -- Raina Wessen found this visitor trolling her yard in the Chaney Trail neighborhood in 2009.
If the folks who showed up on Thursday evening to talk about bears expected to see Elmer Fudd with a shotgun, rarin’ to kill bears to the music of Ride of the Valkyries…well, it didn’t happen.
Everyone from presenter Lt. Martin Wall of the California Department of Fish and Game to former Greenpeace activist Randal Massaro was polite and concerned about the fate of the black bear or bears making themselves at home in residential neighborhoods. For the most part, Wall, Massaro, and others like Monrovia resident Amy Lawrence wanted to educate people about how to live with bears.
The town hall meeting, held at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, was called by Assemblymember Anthony Portantino to address black bear sightings in La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge. Ways to discourage bear encroachment were presented, from electrified fences and walls with rollers along the top, to enacting more restrictive ordinances for keeping chickens and koi ponds out of forested areas.
La Crescenta watch commander Sgt. Debra Herman confirmed that the most recent reported bear sightings in the Crescenta Valley area were on April 22 and May 14. Lt. Wall confirmed to altadenablog that there was a reported sighting in Altadena about a week ago.
What makes the bears come a-knockin’?
Lt. Wall said that bears require a good deal of space, and that in Los Angeles County there are only a few bears north of Interstate 10. Pointing to a wall map of the foothills area, he said, “My point is this area right here won’t support significant bear habitat without significant movement.
“I don’t know if they hear the little wheels on the trash cans, but they come down on trash day.”
The Station Fire, by burning the chaparral, opened up a lot of ground for the types of food bears like—grasses, chokecherries, and other shrubs. “The forest right now is about as good as it’s ever been for bears,” Wall said. “The fact that the bear is not here every single day means he’s got natural food somewhere,” Wall said.
But black bears are pretty lazy creatures, and they go for easy forage. They rarely hunt; even catching koi in a pond is a lot of work for them. They love avocados even more than Big Macs, and will go for easy pickings—fruit trees, trash cans, and pet food, for example.
Water is important, too, so leaky sprinklers or water in pools draw them. Water guzzlers installed in the hills by quail and chukar hunters to attract birds are frequented by bears and other wildlife and help to keep them in place.
Pictured: Sgt. Debra Herman, Assemblyaman Portantino, and Lt. Martin Wall of California Fish & Game.
An ounce of prevention…
“Prevention is better than any kind of cure,” Wall said. “The best prevention is to eliminate the attraction.”
Trash cans are a big attraction for wildlife. Even when empty, the food odor remains. Bears don’t have great eyesight, but they make up for it with noses that can smell termites in wood. Spraying a little ammonia in a trash can helps. Wall noted that some biologists think ammonia is effective because it is the smell of the final stage of decomposition in the wild.
Sgt. Herman, who worked in Duarte/Bradbury at the time Samson the Bear was taking dips in local hot tubs, said that changing to trash cans made specifically for bears helped significantly, as well as strict time limits as to when cans can be put out and must be taken in.
Electrified fences help keep bears out, but plan on getting a charge big enough to handle horses or cattle, and use it with a chain link fence. “Coyote rollers,” an invention that works like a rolling pin on top of a fence or wall, will keep out intruders—both wildlife and human—and keep pets in the yard as well.
Bears don’t like attention, so motion-sensing lights around the property will frighten them off. Wall advises getting the kind with two sockets and wiring a small radio into the second one. Tune it to a station that plays “rude politicians” and the bear will associate the light with a human voice.
When bears attack
Black bears don’t usually attack, Wall stated repeatedly, and there is not one reported killing of a human by a black bear in California. They have a natural fear of humans in the wild.
“A wild bear won’t be in the same canyon with a human being,” Wall said, “but if it’s been fed, it slowly loses its fear.”
One woman expressed fear that since the local bear killed four chickens, “it might find a child appetizing.”
While Wall cautioned that “you never want to be between a bear and where it wants to be,” whether that’s food or its cubs, he said black bears that attack are usually ill or injured. While he said there are times people are hurt, he believes most reported attacks are actually “misunderstandings” between the bear and the human.
What’s the best way to get rid of bears?
The two primary ways of getting a bear away from an inhabited area—other than killing the animal—are relocating and hazing.
Relocation involves tranquilizing the bear, tagging it, and moving it to a different area. Relocation doesn’t work, Wall said, and tranquilizing has its own hazards for the animal. He said the edited television wildlife programs don’t tell the whole story.
“Animals die of capture myopathy,” he said. In tranquilizing, “you are taking the animal to death’s door. We hope he wakes up, but it doesn’t always happen.”
Hazing is the first step Fish and Game officers use in encouraging a bear to leave the area. This involves simply chucking something at the animal.
“Heck, I’ve settled incidents just by throwing avocados at him,” Wall said.
“So what can we do?” a woman asked. “Blow a whistle?”
“It depends on what he’s doing,” Wall responded. “If he’s in the middle of a meal, let him finish.”
Don’t try to scare the bear off or be aggressive, Wall said. The technique of making yourself larger, which works with mountain lions, does not work on bears. Treat it like a large, aggressive dog—don’t run; back away slowly and usually the bear will back away, too.
Living with black bears
Several people in attendance urged that residents get used to living with bears.
Amy Lawrence, the Monrovia resident, said, “We see bears every week. Trash day is bear day. We learned to live with them.” Wall confirmed that people can become accustomed to their furry neighbors. Though bears can still be found lounging on the grass in Duarte, Bradbury, and Monrovia, people are no longer calling Fish and Game about them.
Randal Massaro of Union Members for the Preservation of Wildlife applauded the tenor of the officials and audience in wanting to save the bear rather than killing it. In an interview with altadenablog prior to the meeting, he postulated that money saved in trying to kill wild animals that encroach on populated areas could be better spent in providing food for them in the wilderness or on human social needs. He had hoped to encourage people to oppose bear hunting in Nevada at the meeting, but Asm. Portantino cut him off.
“Human responsibility, that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
Educating the public—including children in schools—on how to live with bears was advocated by several present. Wall brought pamphlets on bears and mountain lions, and Portantino offered to make materials available to school districts. Karen Suter of Wildlife Waystation mentioned the outreach programs for children that the organization has developed.
As Lt. Wall said, “Sometimes I have to figure out if I’m saving people from animals or animals from people.”
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Laura Berthold Monteros writes about Altadena.
