Thread: Bears feasting on illegal entrants' trash

Published: 09.15.2006

Problem bears feasting on illegal entrants' trash
4 destroyed, others relocated after raiding cars, homes
By Arthur H. Rotstein
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
At least four bears have been destroyed this summer after encroaching on humans in southeastern Arizona, and biologists say the trash dumped by illegal immigrants is part of the problem because it acclimates the animals to people. Drought has caused shortages in acorns, juniper and manzanita berries that normally are dietary staples for black bears this time of year. Summer rains came too late to help produce more of the food sources that bears need as they prepare for hibernation, said Kurt Bahti, an Arizona Game and Fish field supervisor.
As a result, bears in the Huachuca Mountains and elsewhere have had to scrounge more, relying heavily on human food, said Tom Skinner, wildlife program manager for the Coronado National Forest.
Immigrants crossing through the forest leave behind trash and leftovers, tainted with human scent, that teach the bears that people mean food, experts said. And the numbers of crossers and the trash is growing.
"The number of job seekers, drug smugglers and other illegal traffic coming through the mountain ranges has resulted in interactions that we're concerned may exacerbate human-bear interaction," Skinner said. "There's a tremendous amount of trash including food items that's being left on these travelways."
That means bears are more likely to move into areas where people live, because they know there is food and they've lost much of their fear of humans. Since mid-June, Bahti said Game and Fish has had more than 30 calls about nuisance bears.
"We've got more doggone bears than you can shake a stick at," Bahti said.
Illegal immigrants crossing into Arizona invariably carry backpacks with clothing, food and toiletries that they throw away, and the discarded food, and even toothpaste, are prime attractions for the bears, Skinner said.
The biologist for the Forest Service's Sierra Vista Ranger District has voiced his concern, Skinner said.
The bears also have made their way down into Ramsey, Carr, Ash and Miller canyons at the southeastern end of the Huachucas to feast on apple, pear and peach trees in a few orchards and in some homeowners' back yards.
A sow was shot Aug. 29 and her cub killed accidentally by a rubber bullet after returning a number of times to a bed and breakfast in Ramsey Canyon. That night, a canyon homeowner shot at but missed an adolescent black bear after it toyed with a locked freezer on his porch, then tried to enter the house and charged at the owner.
A 3-year-old male bear tore up the Carr Canyon motor home of a Forest Service employee Sept. 6, ransacking for food, ignored efforts including spray from a fire extinguisher to frighten it off, and then charged the man. He shot the bear with a .357-caliber pistol.
And the next day, the bear that had stormed the Ramsey Canyon home returned, tore the roof of an SUV and climbed onto a house before the homeowner shot and killed it in his yard with a rifle.
Another five bears in the area have been relocated.
Bahti estimated that there could be 30 to 40 bears in the Huachucas.
"Our suspicion is that they're very used to seeing humans anyway because of the (undocumented entrants), on trails along the crest trail where they camp and leave food," Bahti said.
He said "more and more" illegal immigrants being caught by Border Patrol agents "are talking about bear conflicts. There's a tremendous amount of trash.
"Bears get used to being able to clean up a camp," he said. "Bears realize if you spook a human you also get fed, and we think that is exacerbating the problems."
Skinner also noted that firefighting crews he's talked with have reported seeing regular illegal immigrant traffic through the night in the Huachucas, south of Sierra Vista, even through a fire. "The point is that the traffic of folks coming up from Mexico is really heavy," he said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/146877

That is so so sad.

Poor Bears!!

And two of them were young uns too.

GRRRRR!!