see the bear in Sierra Madre has increased in recent years, and city officials say they want the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to change its approach to dealing with wildlife in foothill communities.
When residents of Sierra Madre report bears on their property, the Sierra Madre Police Department must contact the Fish and Wildlife Service to respond to the incident, unless there is an immediate threat. forward to humans.
Sierra Madre police responded to 130 calls about black bears entering residential areas by 2022, Captain Henry Amos said Tuesday at a City Council meeting. He said those calls included 17 incidents in which bears entered homes and caused property damage.
Since January, there have been dozens of calls involving bears, Amos said, including five in which bears tried to burrow in the crawl space of a house.
City officials plan to vote on a statement this month that will urge the state to update or enhance its policies for sustainable management of bear populations.
“The goal is to show the state that the policies that are in place are not working for Sierra Madre,” said City Manager Jose Reynoso.
Over the past decade, four “bear-human interactions” in and around city limits have been reported, according to James Carlson, a city analyst. However, he said, he “didn’t necessarily call them attacks.”
In 2016, a Sierra Madre resident was hospitalized after he was bear attack on a hiking trail.
City officials say human-bear interactions have increased over the past four years, with many people reporting bears foraging and entering homes.
The bears were bold and did damage to property and ate livestock.
“I once had my chicken eaten by a bear,” Mayor Edward Garcia said during the council meeting.
Sierra Madre plans to release bear-proof bins to help deter hungry bears, but not just in high-frequency areas of the city. Reynoso said officials don’t want to push the hungry bears any further south if they hit an unbreakable trash can.
The city has partnered with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to reach out to canyon area residents to let them know if their trash cans are unsafe or pet food is neglected. .
Mackenzie Rich, an expert on human-wildlife conflict in the fish and wildlife department, says a bear’s nose is 100 times more sensitive than a human’s, and bears can sniff out a bag of food. quickly in a locked car or cooked food in the kitchen.
“They are very good at taking advantage of what we call unsafe attractants,” she says of unsupervised food. What residents are seeing is typical black bear behavior, says Rich.
If one encounters a bear in the wild, says Rich, it’s best to lean back with your hands on your hips and give the bear an open exit. The same applies to a bear entering the house. She added that leave windows and doors open and let the bear find its way out.
But these wild animals may be hungrier than normal visitors.
“Let’s say the animal approaches you and it doesn’t back away. It’s coming straight at you. That’s when you want to be big and loud and scream and wave in the air,” Rich said. “Make a lot of noise and try to say to the animal, ‘Hey! I’m sorry, you need to leave!’”
