Beware hungry bears if you’re hiking or walking in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, because they’re after your picnic basket warn park authorities.
Yeah sure, this ain’t Jellystone, you might be thinking. But the warning is deadly serious. In a perfect example of bear habituation in action, park officials say that the bears have grown so used to being around people that they’re following hikers and campers and almost begging for food.
Since mid-July, forest staff have received near daily reports of food-conditioned bears interacting with people in the area. Bears have been reported destroying tents and backpacks as they look for easy meals and there have been confrontations between bears and dogs.
Frequent encounters between bears and hikers occurred along the Lincoln Woods, Bondcliff, Franconia Brook, Lincoln Brook and Black Pond Trails, and at the Liberty Springs and Thirteen Falls Tent sites.
“Bears that have become habituated to humans are following campers and begging for food,” says the National Forest Service.
“If you’re hiking in places like the White Mountains, you’re going to see bears,” New Hampshire Fish and Game Program Supervisor Andrew Timmins told local news services. “The key is to recognize the bear is not approaching you because it’s aggressive. The bear is approaching you because it could be food conditioned and it’s used to getting food tossed to it.”
Which may sound cute, but seriously, you do not want to encourage bears to start taking food off you. It’ll all end in tears, and possibly other bodily fluids. It’s always good to familiarize yourself with bear encounter safety tips.
Timmins added that New Hampshire hasn’t seen a bear fatality in hundreds of years. But, if people aren’t careful, bears that get too comfortable around humans may end up having to be euthanized for safety reasons.
The problem isn’t just people actively feeding the bears, but also visitors who aren’t storing their food correctly. If food isn’t kept in a properly sealed container, bears will be drawn to the scent and follow hikers or enter campsites.
Campers and hikers are advised to maintain clean campsites and store all food and garbage securely and out of reach of bears, and not inside tents. A bear canister is your best friend in these circumstances. If you don’t have one, the Forest Service has several available to use for free at the Lincoln Woods Visitor Center in Lincoln, and at the Campton, Gorham and Conway ranger stations.
Ideally, the Forest Service wants to reverse the habituation and food conditioning process of the bears, so all visitors need to heed their advice to stop this danger accelerating.
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