Learning to live alongside bears

NORFOLK — Ginny Apple, a master wildlife conservationist with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told an audience of about 40 people at the Norfolk Hub that the onus is on people to minimize interactions between humans and the state’s population of black bears.

Apple gave the talk in Norfolk Saturday, May 10, as the first of a series of talks on wildlife sponsored by Great Mountain Forest and Elyse Harney Real Estate.

Apple emphasized that human/bear interactions are likely to continue to rise because of increasing development in Connecticut, and because the state has a high percentage of “fragmented” land, meaning habitat that is interrupted by roads and other human development.

She said that a bear standing up is not a sign of hostility. “It’s checking you out.”

If the bear gets closer and starts “chattering,” then it’s time to back off slowly and “make a lot of noise.”

Apple had her “bear scare” coffee can filled with spare change or metallic odds and ends like screws, or even pebbles or small rocks. Shake the can, make the noise, and the bear almost always moves off.

But many Connecticut black bears have gotten used to feeding out of garbage bins or taking down bird feeders.

“Habituated black bears get testy” if these food sources are abruptly removed.

One slide Apple showed demonstrated how black bears are moving from Northwest Connecticut south toward the Danbury area. They tend to avoid the heavily developed Connecticut River Valley.

Northeast Connecticut has nice bear habitat “if they can get there.”

Apple said the top cause of bear/human interactions is unsecured trash, closely followed by birdfeeders.

She advised not putting the garbage out for collection the night before the hauler comes.

If there is a nuisance bear that has caused damage, and the homeowner has reported it to DEEP, then the agency will attempt to trap the bear, after which it is tranquilized, tagged and “hazed” in order to discourage it from returning.

Apple said shooting the bear in the rear end with a paintball gun is effective.

But don’t shoot it in the face. That will just make it mad.

Apple also detoured into a discussion of legislation currently before the state Senate regarding rodenticides.

She said widespread use of rodenticides is having a negative effect on the animals that typically feed on the mice, now poisoned, that are the targets of such chemicals.

“It lowers the immune systems of small furry animals and birds of prey.”