Wood River Valley, Idaho (CBS2) – A black bear sow with two cubs has been eating unsecured garbage from homes in the Greenhorn Gulch area in the Wood River Valley. Idaho Fish and Game says this is causing concerns the animals are quickly becoming food-conditioned.
After home security cameras caught the activity Saturday, Fish and Game Officers investigated the situation and found signs of the bears around the home which had lots of garbage. Fish and Game Officers talked to people around the area and provided safety information to homeowners. They also asked people to put their garbage inside their garages until the morning of pick-up.
Fish and Game will continue to monitor the area to proactively discourage the bears from remaining around area homes looking for unsecured food sources, such as household garbage.
Fish and Game says that while a bear can quickly learn to associate a food reward with a residential garbage cart, it is extremely difficult to change that behavior once learned. The solution is to never let a black bear discover it and then learn that a garbage cart is a place to find food. In the case of the sow and her cubs, the cubs are now learning the negative behavior of a food-conditioned bear.
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