Make It A BearWise Spring

If the bears in your area aren’t up and about yet, they will be soon. Why wait until a bear is checking out your bird feeder, pet food or garbage? A few hours of prevention now can help keep bears out in the wild and away from homes and neighborhoods.

Let’s Talk Trash

Litter Patrol

Empty bottles, cans, and bags still smell like food. Picking up all that stuff that mysteriously appeared over the winter will remove attractants and give you a chance to look over your property and remember what’s on your spring to-do list.

Time For A Bath

Anything that holds garbage emits smells that can attract bears. Give all your containers a good bath and spray inside with a disinfectant or ammonia. Don’t use lemon-scented trash can liners or tape fruity air fresheners inside the lid; they smell like the real thing to a bear.

Lock It Or Lose It

An overflowing trash container makes it easy for a bear to score lot of calories for very little work. In early spring, most bears are still losing weight and working hard to find food, so the all-you-can-scrounge buffet is even more appealing. Bears are very smart; if they find a big reward and nothing bad happens, they’ll be back for more. Tested and certified bear-resistant containers (BRCs) are a great choice if your trash haulers can pick them up. Or check out ways to create your own. Learn more.

Become A Morning Person

In neighborhoods where some people don’t secure their trash, the local bears often learn what night the trash goes out and show up for the midnight buffet. This makes a big mess for people to clean up. Even worse, it teaches bears they can rely on us for food. If bear-resistant containers aren’t an option, store trash in a secure locked building or enclosure until the morning of pickup.