{"id":51699,"date":"2017-08-01T15:41:12","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T22:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/?p=51699"},"modified":"2017-08-01T15:47:25","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T22:47:25","slug":"standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing-room-only audience comes to hear bear talk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Wildlife Biologist Kevin Brennan of the California Department of Fish and Game spoke to the public about the bear seen around the Hill and the potential problems facing the community. Photos by John Drake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The arrival of the Banning Rite Aid bear in Idyllwild has aroused the interest and curiosity of a large local audience. It was a capacity and overflow crowd that turned out to hear California Department of Fish and Wildlife Biologist Kevin Brennan talk about black bears in general and our bear in particular at the Idyllwild Library at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 27. Audience stretched through the Community Room door into the library all the way to the circulation desk.<\/p>\n

Brennan had one message he repeated over and over during his talk. \u201cDon\u2019t\u00a0leave unsecured garbage or food sources available or the bear, with a strong sense of smell, will find them,\u201d said Brennan. He related in one instance that bears smelled a dead elk 14 miles away and traveled there for the carrion. \u201cYou cannot hide food smells,\u201d he stressed. \u201cAnd you\u2019re definitely not helping out bears by feeding them.\u201d Bears can quickly become habituated to areas where multiple food sources, especially garbage, are left unsecured. \u201cThat is what creates problems,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce they find food, they\u2019ll keep coming back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be bear aware,\u201d he said. \u201cPrevention [securing garbage in bear-proof containers] is the way to go. But it requires 100 percent cooperation. Communities that take this seriously and secure garbage do not have bear problems.\u201d Brennan elicited laughs when he reminded attendees that secured trash containers only work if the lids are closed. <\/span><\/p>\n

He noted that bears are dawn-to-dusk active and like early evening time especially. He said adult black bears are normally not aggressive and that their natural defense mode is to climb a tree. \u201cA dog can tree a bear,\u201d Brennan noted. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest problems are yearlings. They\u2019re the most aggressive toward humans. And the more a bear is rewarded with free food, the more aggressive he becomes and the more difficult it will be to dissuade him from pursuing the food. Bear problems don\u2019t become serious until they are getting free handouts.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Brennan talks to a packed house at the Idyllwild Library. More than 75 people, spilling over into the library reception area, showed up to hear him speak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brennan noted that San Bernardino County, where there are more black bears, has an ordinance prohibiting leaving unsecured food sources outdoors. \u201cThere is no such law in Riverside County,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brennan estimates the Rite Aid bear is a male of about 3-5 years of age. At this time, there are no yearlings on the Hill. Brennan noted there were two bears sighted recently at Long Valley near the Tram station. Brennan said at this point he is only aware of two bears, the Rite Aid bear and the Indio\/Bermuda Dunes female that was relocated to the Santa Rosa range.<\/span><\/p>\n

An audience member asked if bears can climb fences. \u201cThey can pull a car door apart and even uproot a chainlink fence,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are very powerful.\u201d He advised keeping outdoor grills as clean and free of food odors as possible to minimize the attraction to bears. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not relocate bears or distribute them to other parts of the state,\u201d said Brennan. The Indio female was near Interstate 10 and posed a danger to motorists. She was taken to the nearest habitat, the Santa Rosas. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSome people just see a bear and believe it\u2019s a public threat,\u201d said Brennan. \u201cIt\u2019s not. And a bear\u2019s depredation of a car, house, pet or agriculture is not a public-safety threat. For us to intervene and kill a bear, it must be an imminent threat to public safety, to human life \u2014 a threat at that time,\u201d he stressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are 35,000 black bears in California, said Brennan. And the leading cause of bear mortality is being killed by another bear.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The arrival of the Banning Rite Aid bear in Idyllwild has aroused the interest and curiosity of a large local audience. It was a capacity and overflow crowd that turned out to hear California Department of Fish and Wildlife Biologist Kevin Brennan talk about black bears in general and our bear in particular at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nStanding-room-only audience comes to hear bear talk • Idyllwild Town Crier<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marshall Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/\",\"name\":\"Standing-room-only audience comes to hear bear talk • Idyllwild Town Crier\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/bear.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-01T22:41:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-01T22:47:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#\/schema\/person\/800eebb80d1e5e36859dc6c5cb500784\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/bear.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/bear.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/2017\/08\/01\/standing-room-audience-comes-hear-bear-talk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Standing-room-only audience comes to hear bear talk\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/\",\"name\":\"Idyllwild Town Crier\",\"description\":\"Almost All the News \u2014\u00a0Part of the Time\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#\/schema\/person\/800eebb80d1e5e36859dc6c5cb500784\",\"name\":\"Marshall Smith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/idyllwildtowncrier.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f832ebbb90c77ae40e932b1b868a8db?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6f832ebbb90c77ae40e932b1b868a8db?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Marshall Smith\"},\"description\":\"Marshall Smith has been writing for the Town Crier since 2005. 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