Thanks to conservation successes, black bears are back in a big way in North America – and they're becoming much less shy around humans In this extract from her book Fuzz, mary_roach looks at the growing problem of hungry black bears in our backyards
It is 3.30am, bear time in the back alleys of compact, restaurant-dense downtown Aspen, Colorado. I hurry to catch up withand spot what just made him shout and throw up his hands in exasperation: two fat trash bags ripped open, with food scraps spilling out onto the pavement.
The sound of Breck’s approaching SUV must have scared off a bear mid-scavenge. Compost and garbage are known in the parlance of human-bear conflict as “attractants.” Aspen municipal code requires both to be secured in bear-resistant containers. “Give me a break,” Breck says, quieter now, hands back at his sides. “We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this.” This equals: multiyear, multicity research into how best to get people in the midst of bear country to properly lock up attractants, and how much difference it makes when they do.
Between January and June of this year, there were more than 700 such encounters with black bears in Colorado – not hugely out of the norm in recent years. What is out of the norm, though, is the nature of these run-ins. “It just seems they are a little more brazen this year,” Christy Bubenheim from the state’s parks and wildlife service
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Colorado woman mauled by bear as she fixed hot tub in backyardThe bear who mauled a woman at her New Castle home has been killed by local police, along with one of her three cubs.
Read more »
This TikToker is shining a light on Alabama’s urban legends“There’s so many people in Alabama who have no idea about the scary and paranormal things that are a part of the [state’s] history,” Joshua Dairen said. “There’s so much history packed in that should be told, and somebody needed to tell it.”
Read more »
A changing tide for unionizing in the USUnionizing has been making an unusual comeback in the U.S. as the economy tries to bounce back from pandemic lows.
Read more »
Why polio is making a comebackExperts warn that new cases of the deadly disease, long gone from most of the world, are just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what went wrong—and how we can eradicate polio once and for all.
Read more »
White Dallas officer on leave after making coin Black Police Association says is racistA white Dallas police officer is on administrative leave as the department investigates allegations that he made and tried to sell a challenge coin the Black...
Read more »