Traditionally, wildlife officials have managed human-bear conflict situations through hunting regulations, destruction and relocation. Thousands of bears are killed each year in North America. Yet, these methods have not prevented conflicts or even reduced their numbers.

As people move into bear country in unprecedented numbers, there is increased concern for public safety, biodiversity conservation and reducing property damage. The ineffectiveness of traditional response methods and the need to maximize resources point to a clear need for a new approach.

The key to successfully managing human-bear conflicts is to first minimize the number of human-bear conflict situations (through effective waste management, education and enforcement) and, secondly, to deal with any resulting conflicts in a non-lethal manner.

Non-lethal alternatives provide an effective management tool and incorporate a more holistic, long-term approach to bear management. This approach has met with huge success in areas like Mammoth Lakes, CA, Yosemite N.P., and Whistler, BC where the number of human-bear conflicts has dropped significantly - requiring less resources to deal with problem situations and less bears being destroyed.

Non-lethal Bear Management uses negative conditioning to modify undesirable bear behaviour without destroying the animal. By utilizing human dominance, and demonstrating a body posture and vocalizations that speak the language of the bear, officers can command the bear's respect and reinstill its natural desire to avoid humans. These methods can be reinforced with the use of bear dogs, rubber bullets, pyrotechnics and bear pepper spray. Even hitting the bear with rocks will work. Bears can be taught to stay away from people and their property. This approach capitalizes on the bear's innate tendency to avoid conflict and fit into the natural dominance hierarchy. The bear is not physically hurt - it is a psychological experience that reinstills their respect for and hence avoidance of people.

Bears must be taught to respect humans and human territory. This is a trait that bears have lost over time through poor management strategies and a generally submissive reaction by people. We have baited bears with a food reward into human settlement areas and then punished them with death for accepting an easy meal.

It needs to be stressed that negative conditioning should aid, but not be a substitute for preventive measures that eliminate or reduce the potential for human-bear conflicts.

The Theory behind Non-lethal Bear Management

The key to effective bear management is being able to communicate in a way that facilitates an understanding by the bear. We must begin by looking at the situation through the bear's eyes, instead of ours.

If we observe bears interacting with each other, we can see that they communicate messages through their body posture, vocalizations and odour signals. If wildlife managers use some of these forms of communication in conjunction with non-lethal tools, then they can begin to communicate with bears on a level they can understand and ultimately condition or teach bears to respect our boundaries. These techniques require humans to think the way the bear is thinking, rather than imposing our way of thinking onto the bear, or trying to impart our own human sentiment onto the bear.

Bears communicate with each other by establishing a dominance hierarchy or pecking order in situations where they encounter each other. It isn't always size that makes one bear dominant over another, but the attitude of the dominant bear, or 'alpha', who is always in charge.

Bears communicate their dominance by intimidating their opponent; they do not fight with each other unless it's absolutely necessary. Fight risks injury, and that is not the bear's desire. It's all about posturing. Bears do not understand English or French, but they do understand a language of dominance and submission. The wildlife manager can assert his dominance by posturing or fooling the bear into believing the human is in control of the situation. He becomes the 'alpha' bear, if you will, or the one calling the shots. The wildlife manager's body posture and tone of voice can make it perfectly clear to the bear that it is not welcome in an area. If the bear is not being respectful of that message, the message can be reinforced with a rubber bullet in the hindquarter or a shot of bear pepper spray in its face delivered in an aggressive manner.

We must send bears a clear message that it is unacceptable to approach people or their property. Non-lethal bear management provides an effective tool for managing bears without compromising human safety or destroying the animal.

Killing is not the Answer

By removing a "problem" bear you've only created an opportunity for another bear to move into this newly available habitat niche. Consequently, the problem hasn't been solved. Wildlife officials have just committed to a perpetual cycle of killing, public outrage and negative press. However, once a community has invested in minimizing attractants and 'training' the resident bear population to a manageable level, only occasional retraining/reminders are required. We can save bear lives, create positive public relations and improve safety for people living and recreating in bear country. Most importantly, we have created an environment in which people and bears can coexist in harmony!

Living in Harmony with Bears

Communities need to decide their level of tolerance toward bears and establish a clear set of rules - when the bear crosses the line, it must be taught to avoid these situations through negative conditioning.

We have already proven that we can coexist with wildlife by managing attractants and using non-lethal methods to teach bears the limits of unacceptable behaviour.

Bears can be taught that certain behaviours are undesirable and will not be tolerated by people. The non-lethal bear management program re-establishes human boundaries and human territory.

Bears and People can live in Harmony!

Make the community you live in a Bear Smart Community!

Download a copy of our Guidebook to Non-lethal Bear Management.

Wildlife managers should refer to our section on Managing Bears.