Not too long ago, West Virginia’s black bear population was estimated to be about 500 animals. But conservation efforts brought them back from the brink of extinction. Today, the greatest problem facing the state bear is human interactions.
One of the temptations for bears, especially in the spring and late fall is easy food sources like dumpsters. When the animals are hungry after hibernation, or getting ready for a long winter’s nap, they need energy quickly. And unsecured trash is an easy way to get it.
But the dumpsters at Beckley West Apartments in Raleigh County are special. They are designed to help keep bears out. And keep bears, and humans, safe at the same time.
Colin Carpenter, a black bear project leader with the West Virginia Division Natural Resources explained how they work.
“We hate to say bear proof, because bears can figure out ways to get into almost anything. However, this is an incredibly bear resistant dumpster, and the thing that makes it bear resistant is the fact that it’s got metal lids on top so the bear can’t chew through it or pry it open,” he said. “And it’s got metal doors on the side that latch and that is the key.”
The part of the sprawling apartment complex on top of the hill used to have a bear problem.
“It was rough. We had a lot of bears running around up here. They were tearing everything up,” said Jerry Kinsinger. He is a 15-year resident of the community. “We had a mama bear with three cubs getting in the trash cans. One tried to get in this apartment up here, the mama bear. She smelled food or something, and she started going out the door. But it’s gotten a lot better now it’s just the dumpsters, as long as you keep the doors closed, everything like that is good.”
Carpenter explained how the dumpsters work, and some of the user errors that limit its efficacy.
“The issue we got going on here is this particular dumpster is not latched currently,” Carpenter said. “Now the good news is the door is closed because, as Jerry mentioned, one of the biggest issues that we have with bears getting into dumpsters is when people you can have a bear resistant dumpster in place, but if the folks don’t close the doors, then you have problems.”
He explained that the locking lid, with a bar that goes over the metal doors keeps bears out.
“These are perfect. This is what we could really use in a lot of places in West Virginia,” he said.
Courtesey Division of Natural Resources
Bear complaints peak typically when natural foods are scarce. The worst months for human-bear conflicts for May and June.
“You’ve got bears that are coming out of the den, you know, all of the bears, males, females, cubs, adults, and they’re coming off of a time of scarcity, right?” Carpenter said. They fasted all winter, lived off their body fat. Now they’re coming out at a time of year when natural food is not real abundant, so they’re subsisting on green vegetation for those first couple months. Green vegetation, insects.”
If bears can spend a lot less time at a very high calorie food source, they’re going to take advantage of it. And that’s where DNR staff have to get involved. In the past, they would relocate bears to more appropriate habitats. But Carpenter says years of evidence has shown many bears don’t fare well when moved.
“The scientific literature has learned that older bears, adult bears, especially males, do not fare as well when you move them,” Carpenter said. “They either become an issue somewhere else or they die at higher rates because you’re putting them in (a) different habitat. We have higher success with moving females or young, young animals.
He explained that about 15 years ago the DNR changed the policy on not moving older animals. But that means if you have a food conditioned, habituated bear it ends up getting dispatched.
Carpenter said there have been situations where people have hand-fed ice cream or other treats to bears. But that action means the bear will have to be put down.
“We cannot retrain once these animals have developed that behavior. And again, it’s these older animals that typically are the ones that end up in this category,” he said. “Oftentimes these are some of the trophy animals from a hunting perspective and just from anyone’s perspective. So it’s a sad thing to see, especially when we know that these things can be easily prevented.”
As with everything, money is a big hurdle. A bear-resistant dumpster costs more.
“The issue that we’ve had is finding providers in West Virginia that are willing to actually provide these dumpsters,” Carpenter said. “I just was at a bear meeting and I learned a lot more about the trash hauling business that I did not know. There’s very few actual dumpster manufacturers in the United States. I think there’s only about three. So we’re trying to build a relationship with bear biologists and the trash companies to say, ‘Hey, look, we’ve got these issues that we’re facing out here in the world. Can you work with us to come up with solutions?’”
The entire eastern Appalachian region is populated with black bears. But what do you do if you’re out in the woods in West Virginia, Kentucky, eastern Ohio, Tennessee and you run into a bear?
“If you’re watching from a distance, and it doesn’t see you, we tell folks to enjoy it,” Carpenter said. “Enjoy the sight and then back away slowly when you’re done.”
“If you encounter a bear on a trail, make yourself known. Shout, ‘Hey Bear,’ wave your arms. Nine times out of 10, that bear is going to go the other way,” he said. “Oftentimes these bears are going to spot you or smell you before you even realize they’re there.”
He did recommend for those recreating in bear country, which includes everywhere in West Virginia, to carry commercial bear spray that works on all species of bears.
“The one thing I would recommend is, watch some videos online of how to deploy it, because you don’t want to be, you know, spraying it into the wind and inhaling it yourself,” Carpenter said.
In the early 1970s there were fewer than 500 black bears in West Virginia, in about eight to 10 counties in the eastern mountains. Since then conservation efforts and tracking have changed that to 12,000 to 14,000 bears in the state in all 55 counties.
Carpenter explained that there were no direct repopulation efforts, like elk and quail in West Virginia, but it was a matter of understanding bear behavior and changing hunting seasons accordingly.
“We got to where we are today because of our research and management program. So in the early 1970s we actually started bear research. We were one of the first states in the nation to use our federal dollars on black bear management and research, and our large scale project began in the early 1970s where we started collaring. This is when radio collar technology became available and we started collaring bears,” he explained. “We’ve had bears collared in West Virginia since 1971 with no gaps. I mean, we’ve always had radio collared bears. And by following these bears with their radio collars, we’ve learned a tremendous amount about them. The biggest thing that helped our bear population grow was what we learned in the mid-to-late-70s was how these bears actually den, in what order they go to den.”
He explained that pregnant females typically went to den first. In 1979, bear season fell in the month of November. But that meant that hunters were harvesting a lot of pregnant females at a time when our population was low so it was stifling population growth.
The DNR changed the hunting season to be in December, and that protected a large percentage of pregnant females.
“You do that, and then you add 40 years to it, the population grows and we have the habitat,” Carpenter said. “We went from a time in the 50s in West Virginia, where we were about 60% forested, to a time when we’re 80% forested now. So our habitat has matured. We’ve got habitat everywhere, and the bears have responded.”