The bear meanders back into the woods.
One summer I decided to drive around on some back roads outside of Pagosa and take pictures of horses in pastures to use for my paintings on canvas. I never got any action shots where they were running or rearing, just shots of horses grazing. So I sort of struck out on that score. But, out on Snowball Road I came across a black bear getting into someone’s garbage. I rolled down the electric window on the passenger’s side and shot some pictures. The bear was very aware of me, since I had parked my car nearby and was aiming my camera at it while sitting in the car. The bear had a tag in its ear which meant it was on borrowed time before it was shot and killed because of someone’s complaint of it getting into garbage again, or worse. It lingered there for a while, but was nervous because of my presence and meandered back into the woods.
Leaving garbage cans outside on your property is an invitation for bears to come into your neighborhood. It teaches bears where they can find easy food. And, if they find a window open in a house nearby, the next step may be breaking in. It encourages bad behavior in bears. Bears that constantly come back to the same garbage cans may lead to complaints from people, which then will lead to a visit from a U.S. Wildlife officer who may shoot and kill the bear. If it happens to already have a tag on it from previous offenses or has broken into a dwelling, this is very likely to happen.
If you love the idea that we have bears here and you want to help keep them from becoming bad bears, keep your garbage can inside until the day when the garbage truck comes. Don’t leave any pet dishes with food left in them outside. Bears will break up birdfeeders to get at the seeds. We all love the birds, but they do us a favor by eating insects in warm weather. Wintertime is when they need feed and by then the bears will be hibernating. It will be a step in helping to save the lives of bears.
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