Smarter than the average bear

CINTHIA RITCHIE

May 29, 2008 at 3:38PM AKST

It isn’t the prettiest object in the world.
It’s green and thick, with pudgy wheels and a chubby lid.
But it’s strong. It’s durable.
And it’s smarter than the average bruin.

The new BearSaver garbage carts, recently made available to residents in the Seward and Moose Pass areas, are regarded as a superhero in bear-proofing circles. Funded through the Seward Wildlife Conservation Community Program and distributed by the Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance, the carts offer airtight protection from dumpster diving grizzly and black bears.

More than 60 were sold the first week they arrived in mid-May, and Matt Gray, RBCA project coordinator, hopes the trend continues. He’d like to see a bear-resistant cart squatting outside every house on garbage pickup days. It would, he said, lessen the likelihood of negative bear-people encounters.

“Most residents are reasonably responsible,” he said. “I don’t know anyone specifically who isn’t. But people get into the habit of leaving (garbage) in the back of a truck.

And it becomes a problem.”

It’s also a homeowner’s responsibility to take reasonable precautions when it comes to garbage disposal. City of Seward Ordinance Title 14, Chapter 14.05.030 states that all garbage containers “shall be watertight with an animal-proof lid and of adequate durability for continued use.”

The bear-resistant carts come in 32-, 65- and 95-gallon sizes and cost $50, about a quarter of their retail price; the SWCCP picks up the rest of the tab.

“It’s a great deal,” Gray said. “Just a regular plastic garbage can is about 30 bucks.”

Fast food
Pizza crusts. Greasy French fries. Last night’s salmon surprise. It’s lurking in your garbage, and to a bear, it’s more than a gourmet meal. It’s a bona fide all-you-can-eat buffet.

Leave such goodies out and the bears are going to come, according to Larry Lewis, Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife technician. And they’re probably going to return.

You really can’t blame them, he said. Bears have absolutely no responsibility to us.

“They are not people in fuzzy outfits,” he said. “They are motivated by survival. They are going to look for the easiest food source, with the least amount of trouble.”

Once bears correlate food reward with houses, they become site habituated. They also pass their fast-food behavior on to their offspring.

According to Gray’s estimates, four to 10 bears are shot in the Seward area each year.

It’s rarely the bear’s fault.

“We live in bear country, and whether you love them or hate them, we have a responsibility, as the higher-brained animal, to live smart,” Lewis said.

Which is where bear-resistant garbage carts come in. Eliminate the food source and you’ll pare down the chances of negative interactions. The hardest part, said Gray, is getting people to comply.

“It still takes work to get people to want to use them,” he said.

Similar bear-resistant programs have been introduced in Kenai, Homer and Cooper Landing. They’ve been touted as fostering community awareness while reducing the time agencies spend dealing with wayward wildlife.

“This is not an enforced program,” Lewis said. “People don’t have to participate.”

However, he added, if people chose not to handle their food responsibly, they can be cited with a $310 fine. In the past, Fish and Game has emphasized positive bear education over penalization.

“But now we’re going to get more aggressive with the writing of tickets,” he said.

If someone shoots a bear that’s threatening its life, that’s one thing. But to entice a bear to your property by leaving out food and then shooting it, that’s just wrong.

“You just can’t do that,” he said.

Super duper tipper carts
The BearSaver cart isn’t bear proof.

“Bear proof,” said Lewis wryly, “is a Sherman tank.”

But it is bear-resistant. It’s durable and heavy-duty. It sports a clever open-close mechanism. According to Steve Thompson, director of marketing and sales at BearSaver, it’s all about the lid. It has to open and close easily to give people quick access.

“If anything requires a secondary operation, people don’t go through the trouble,” he said. “If there are clips, people won’t clip. You have to make them user friendly.”
The BearSaver latch requires one finger. Anyone can do it, he said: Children, old ladies. Anyone except a bear, that is.

“A bear claw cannot get in, but a finger can,” he said.

The company tests containers by filling them with smelly fish and letting a hungry bear go at it for 90 minutes.

Lewis has seen similar instances in carts around Kenai. He’s seen them chewed to smithereens. He’s heard stories of bears jumping up and down on a cart for 45 minutes and still unable to get to the garbage.

Because the carts are bigger than traditional garbage cans, Alaska Waste has had to install a cart tipper on the back of its residential truck. It was a fairly high expense, said general manager Jack Carver, but well worth it.

It’s starting to become socially unacceptable for people leave their garbage out and raise the risk of bear encounters, Lewis said. He sees this as a sign of progress.

Improperly stored food on your property is like sending out party invitations to local bruins.

Still, you can’t fault the bears. They’re a lot like us. They’re just trying to get by.

“All bears have to make a living somehow, and they’re going to go to the easiest meal,” Thompson said. “If you got free food at McDonald’s on Monday, you’re probably going to go back on Tuesday.”

Cinthia Ritchie can be reached at (907) 342-2428 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 428.