Living in bear country

All over the world, people live in bear country, but, while many people have a positive view of living where there are bears, most accept some level of ongoing conflict with their ursine neighbours. It is actually surprising that there are not more incidents with bears, considering the number of attractants there are, in general, round houses. Most of the time, the problems are the result of people not knowing what they need to do to prevent their property attracting bears, and to make it bearproof. Any situation where people and bears live in the same place is predisposed to potential conflict. This has been the case for as long as the two species have existed together, and it has been borne out in modern history by the explosion of the human population and the associated regional extinctions of bears. This is particularly true of the brown bear, which is now extinct in an enormous part of its former global range. The American black bear has a greater capacity to adapt to encroachment into its habitat by human beings, but that doesn't mean it is less likely to come into conflict with them.

This section of the website contains information for people who live in bear country, who want to know the best practices for keeping bears away from their property.