On Saturday, June 11, the Sautee Nacoochee Center had a crowd of about 35 people who came to learn how best to live with bears in North Georgia.
Gerald Hodge, Founder of Appalachia Georgia Friends of the Bears, Inc, said his mission is to reduce negative bear/human interactions through proactive education.
The influx of human tourists and residents moving into wilderness areas creates more opportunities for humans and black bears to come in contact with one another. “Our human actions or inattentiveness, whether intentional or not, have consequences,“ Hodge said.
“We are not an anti-hunting organization. Legally harvested black bears is an important population management tool.”
Hodge partners with BearWise.org, an organization formed by wildlife agencies, including GeorgiaDNR and Georgia Forestry Commission, to fill the need for public information to protect both bears and humans. Appalachia Georgia Friends of the Bears works with 26 county government departments and agencies as well.
“Understanding normal bear behavior and educating the public about bears is critical when dealing with human-bear conflicts,” writes the GeorgiaDNR in their Jan 28, 2019 Strategic Management Plan for black bears in Georgia (2019-2028),
You can find useful information about do’s and don’t’s with bears on the BearWise.org website. For example, what attracts bears to homes, campsites, or when you’re hiking? Garbage, pet food, birdseed and nectar, BBQ grills, compost piles, livestock feed and beehives. And––since a bear’s sense of smell is 2000x ours––food or trash, in tents or vehicles.
What to do if you encounter a bear: Remain calm. Don’t play dead. Don’t run, which triggers a bear’s predator-prey response. You’re more likely to encounter bears when moving quietly during early and late day, when bears are most active.
What do bears eat? Bears are omnivores. Their natural diet is 95% vegetation: berries, acorns, nuts and grass. They eat insects and mammals, including deer.
A black bear in the wild can live 20-25 years. But “garbage bears”––those that forage for human food––have shorter life spans, because they will eat metal and plastic if it smells like food. Their teeth can crack and their digestive systems get shredded.
Getting ready for winter: In a typical day, a large male bear eats 3000 calories a day to maintain body weight. So, why not skip the 1 1/2 pounds of acorns it must to forage, and go for easier food that humans unknowingly provide.
During hyperphagia––when a bear must fatten up before winter—it needs about 20,000 calories per day. Lactating females need plenty of calories, too.
Some humans think, “Why not just relocate the problem bear?” Bears often return to their home ground. The problem isn’t solved until humans change their behavior to learn how to live with bears. We moved into their home territory.
The problem with human interactions is that bears become habituated to eating easy-to-find human food. They begin to associate garbage cans, campsites, decks with petfood and cars with food. Their wild foraging patterns will shrink around a human food source., It’s not orneryness, it’s survival.
What’s happening now in June? Bears are on the move: Yearlings leave mom and the new cubs, to find food and a territory of their own. Adult males look far and wide for mates. Nursing females move farther from their range, searching for food, too.
Enjoy your rare bear encounters, and be a good neighbor.
For more information, about bears, see www.BearWise.org.
Read Living with Bears Handbook by author Linda Masterson.
To contact Gerald D. Hodge, Jr., Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (retired)
Founder and CEO, Appalachia Georgia Friends of the Bears, Inc.
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