The most disturbing part was the angry implication that I had somehow invited this: “Why you? What are you doing to bring this on yourself twice? I’ve never had this problem!” Perhaps because you have central air conditioning and my screened windows are open? I felt shaken and a little sick afterward.
Ironically, neither person knew that I am a lifetime member of Defenders of Wildlife, an animist who holds all life sacred, sincerely revere the Bear totem and love bears, and am a lifelong activist for animal rights (often at great personal cost). But one thing I do know: human life takes precedence over animal life.
There appears to be a fond fantasy held by some people, that life in the country is much like the Keebler cookie commercial where elves live inside tree trunks and all gentle woodland creatures get along splendidly. But humans are creatures with a right to live, too. And while a mother bear’s fierce protectiveness of her young is a wonderful thing, there seems to be a blind spot with these people about human mothers having the same right to protect theirs.
A realistic attitude, mercifully, is also held by the DEC, which deals with these issues every day. The people there understand that an ingrained pattern of a bear invading homes will, inevitably, result in tragedy one day — hence the he phrase “A fed bear is a dead bear.” Several of them told me that it is the most distressing and painful part of their jobs, this legal obligation to kill bears that have invaded homes. Both the DEC workers and the bears pay the price for well-meaning but foolish people who have trained bears to expect food from humans, and to see homes as a ready source of food.
We are not living in a Goldilocks tale. Once inside a home, the bear will not sit down to eat porridge with you. If it feels trapped, it will instinctively attack, do whatever it must to defend itself or find an exit. I was 18 inches away from an agitated bear, close enough to smell it, with only a window screen between us. One swipe of those powerful claws would have removed my face. Yet I heard hate-filled verbal abuse for defending myself against this happening again. Is my life worth less than theirs?
Another family in this area experienced two break-ins in a single weekend. This family’s story, unlike ours, resulted in an article in a local newspaper. Some of the comments from readers ranged from blame-the-victim (they must have done something to bring this on themselves) to shocking (these people should be arrested and fined). I’m puzzled about the contradiction here. When a home is invaded by a burglar, there is sympathy for the homeowner. When a home is invaded by a bear, the homeowner is lazy, careless, and if they report it to the DEC, a criminal accomplice to murder.
Since our experience, we have seen three other bear traps and heard about twice that number of break-ins, just in our small hamlets of Lake Hill and Willow. It is epidemic now that the food supply has dwindled to virtually nothing because of the drought. This situation is not going away, and dismissing it with a blithe “Oh, just lock up your trash better” only addresses part of the problem.
All of us in rural areas of New York and New Jersey are affected by this problem in some way. Hopefully, this will be much like the situation sporadically experienced by coastal communities with sharks. They appear to happen in cycles, affected by weather and the food supply.
The prospect for this coming autumn and winter is not pleasant: either the bear population will have to be significantly thinned out during hunting season, or many of them will die a slow and miserable death from starvation. I will never understand the sentiment that taking no action, and allowing so many of them to die a miserable death, is the more merciful course.
No one is praying more fervently than I am that this tragic situation does not happen again. The DEC employees I spoke with told me this is the worst summer for bears they have ever experienced, and it is taxing their resources, already severely affected by budget cuts, to the limit. There are no easy solutions. We are all handling it as best we can. But one thing I know: demonizing the people who have been adversely affected by bears this summer is not the answer. It can happen to anyone, in any home. No one is immune.
Maybe you should look for a house in Brooklyn,I hear the bear population is very small.
I feel for the author. Just having moved back to the area after 20 years I was not prepared for meeting a bear in the street. When it happened I was close enough to get down my driveway to the house. The bear got into the neighbors trash, even though they had a sturdy box built to house it. The next day he was in our yard at the trash cans. I haven’t felt very safe outside since, and I do worry about keeping the windows open at night now. I don’t think anyone should critisize the authors’ motives in calling the DEC. Until you have a close encounter with a wild animal like a bear, you cannot say how you would react yourself. I am an animal lover and have worked as a volunteer for years in animal rescue. I think the bears are a beautiful and amazing creature. But I also believe that human life has value so I do think something needs to be done that is humane for the bears as well as the human involved. I assume there is no practical or affordable way to feed the bears where they normally live deep in the woods, to keep them there? Other than that, what else could possibly be done besides euthanizing the ones that have become dangerous? I hope the authors’ neighbors will learn to be a little more neighborly and maybe offer to help them instead of critisizing them.
Jen, I couldn’t agree more. I think this remains a sensitive issue. Visiting my parents, after coming home from Cincinnati, I can still remember how bears remain a problem and nuisance – that continues in perpetum mobile – in Woodstock and the whole of the Catskills. But the Woodstock Times and other newspapers should perhaps instead create a more progressive attitude towards Bear encounters? Maybe instead if simply stating that Bears ransacked another garbage can, Woodstock could spend more time educating the population about native territories of Bears and give proper instructions for dealing with them. Obviously – bears will continue to harass people – so long as their hunting & foraging territory is carved up for new housing development. But given Woodstock’s sensitivity to wildlife conservation, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of a local response from conservationists, academics and activists alike.
“We slept in our clothes,” Do pajamas instigate bears?
Don’t worry about the haters, just love them.
Boo, it was the pajamas with the teddy bears on them that I didn’t dare wear!
I live in pretty far back in the woods in West Saugerties. Last year I had three really cute cubs frolicking on my terrace with momma bear looking on from nearby. I was also regularly visited by an adolescent bear. This year two of cubs returned without momma. The adolescent also returned. I’ve got all of this well-documented with photos…taken from inside the house.
One evening this summer, while I was working in the garden, I had a stare down with a large male. He just sat there on a pile of rocks watching me for about five minutes. Then he ambled off into the woods. Yes, I felt as if I had made some kind of connection with the guy, but some serious trepidations had also begun to creep into my thoughts.
I love my birds and I had devised a way to keep the feeders 20 feet in the air, suspended from a wire strung between the house and a tree 50 feet from the house — both bear-proof and squirrel-proof. Or so I thought. I had read somewhere that if the feeder is more than 12 feet in the air, the bears won’t be able to smell it. Ha, ha, ha!
Every morning I would wake up to something like Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowls: goldfinches, cardinals, titmice, cowbirds, chickadees, nuthatches and even occasional visitors like rose-breasted grosbeaks and indigo buntings chowing down at the feeders; hummingbirds swarming around the honeysuckle; doves, chipping sparrows, chipmunks, squirrels, and wild turkeys hanging around below, breakfasting on the seeds that fell like manna from above. It was a beautiful fantasy while it lasted. Just like an old Disney cartoon.
Then one evening I caught the adolescent bear trying to climb up the side of my house. I knew he was a good climber because last summer I had seen him tumble about 30 feet from a tree in the woods near the house. I managed to scare it off, but I left the feeders up there.
The following morning I found the feeders smashed up, with crushed bits scattered around the grounds. Around the same time a friend told a story of one of these hungry guys breaking into a car and completely destroying the interior.
Now I’ve given it all up and take every possible precaution: absolutely no more feeders; no food or garbage outside the house or in the car. All garbage inside the house, shut up tight and deodorized.
Yes, I miss my little fantasy…and at night, when I hear any noise downstairs or around the outside of the house, I wonder if it isn’t one of my ursine friends paying a visit. Actually, I hope it isn’t.
I agree with the author. We had that trap on our property this year provided by the DEC after a bear attacked our 35 lb dog. Our dog never barked, never asserted himself and got attacked and was lucky to live through the experience:$3600 in vet bills later, Money we did not have. less than a mile away from us and 4 days later the same bear charged a women in a residential area of Woodstock (Zena) wit her 2 dogs (5lbs & 15lbs). the bear picked the 5lb dog up in its mouth and punctured its kidney & lung….after 6-9 days of expensive vet care she had to put her dog down. Don’t tell me the bears deserve to co-habitate when a bear like this one is bold enough to act this way. Normal bears know their boundaries and limits…and yes, unfortunately not enough negative human interaction has resulted in them getting too comfortable with us. So perhaps the DEC has to step their education of residents in how residents should be interact and co-habitaing with the bear. I have lived here for over 37 years and hiked all the Catskills, support wildlife and education of protecting them, but their are limits.
Hi Donna…..we are in Portland Oregon now, but I do remember bear cubs coming up on my deck in Lake Hill to feed from my bird feeder that I left out to long in the season, and it was exciting yet scarey all at the same time. Knowing you like I do, I know this was heart breaking for you and Terry, and I am sooo sorry you had this experience. All the years you spent taking in cats and incurring medical expenses for them, you are the BEST !!!!!