How to Really help ‘Hank the Tank’
National Public Radio just did a story titled: Hank the Tank: A massive bear has broken into dozens of homes near Lake Tahoe. The wirier Bill Chappell did a great job in his story making it clear that this is not a bear problem, it is a people problem.
Even cute little bear cubs are great scavengers, they don’t need to find encounters with humans while they search for food in the wild.
Unsecured food sources, such as trash cans, pet food, or livestock feed are encouraging bears to visit backyards, increasing human- bear conflicts and thus bear euthanizations. We love that local organizations like Bear League are working to find Hank a home rather than being killed, but we know there is a better way than to just fight to save bears who have already found themselves in big trouble. We know that by cleaning up we can each play a role in helping to ensure a peaceful coexistence with bears and to keep our neighborhoods safe.
Bears have an extremely keen sense of smell. Leaving unsecured food sources easily available invites bears into your yard or onto your property, where human-bear conflicts can occur. Ever heard the old saying “a fed bear is a dead bear”? Once a bear finds a food source, they are likely to revisit that area again, creating potentially dangerous situations for both the bear(s) and humans. Because of this, many bears who seek out human food sources are euthanized each year. This is completely preventable through education and commitment to ensure bears do not access unsecured food sources.
We won’t go into all the details on how bears find themselves getting into trouble because we already have a blog post on that topic: “What is Human-Bear Conflict and How Can I Help?”
Please, For the Love of Bears - get Cleaned Up Certified today, and help spread the word to your neighbors. This campaign is our way of helping all bears to live and thrive even if our communities have encroached on their wild habitats. Think about Cleaned Up For the Love of Bears like a campaign to keep kids out of trouble, before they get into trouble, rather than once they have already gone to jail.