[QUOTE=Quartz]
If a bear is that bold, isn’t it time to break out the bear trap, catch it, and transport it to somewhere more remote?
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No. The o.p. clearly lives in an area where bears are common (i.e. he’s not freaked out by this), and the bear took the opportunity to find an accessible stash of food, which they’ll do, being, as they are, essentially big omnivorous eating machines. Bears are very curious and they can be destructive, but it is fairly rare that they’ll break into a structure unless there is a clear indication of something yummy. Telemark’s advice is straight on; I would additionally recommend storing the food in a sealed container (to prevent smells from escaping) and put the garbage in bear-proof containers which are stored outside the garage. After a bear tries to open them once or twice and fails they’ll just leave it alone.
Relocating bears is rarely an effective strategy. First of all, bears are very good at navigation and males may travel over a couple hundred miles if the geography allows, so a bear relocated a few dozen miles may just return, and a bear relocated into a different environment may not have the foraging skills to survive in that environ, especially in competition with established bears. Second, if you remove one bear, you’re just leaving a vacuum for another to take its place. (Male bears have territory, but they’re not, strictly speaking, territorial; that is, they’ll allow territories to overlap mostly without conflict. Females, on the other hand, have defined territories that are usually ceded to them by their sows and are always looking to expand.) Third, unless the bear is actively threatening or has become so habituated to people that it is becoming an active nuisance (which is almost always the result of people being careless or stupid) it is best to just leave it alone and eliminate lures like trash and food. If it has reached that level, Fish & Game will typically “take” , i.e. kill the bear. (Black bears, Ursus americanus are in no way endangered in most areas and a limited amount of hunting and culling is necessary for responsible game management.) Generally speaking, people are far more a danger to bears (from junk food wrappers, road kill, habitat displacement, et cetera) than vice versa. I routinely (well, two or three times a year) camp in bear-infested alpine forests of the Sierras, San Gabriels, et cetera, and the only problem I ever had with a bear was when I stupidly left a pack with peanut butter and honey sandwiches sitting on a picnic table in an established campground; even then, I was easily able to drive off the bear and get my pack back just by yelling and throwing rocks.
If you want to actively dissuade a bear, you can put up an electric fence–it won’t hurt the bear, but the irritation is generally sufficient to make it go away–or wait around with a can of O.C. pepper spray; a single shot to the face is typically enough to keep the bear away from you for good. If you just make sure that there is nothing that is routinely available for them to eat around your house, though, they’ll just lumber on by and go bust up someone else’s open trash. Personally, I have far more trouble with raccoons and opossum than bear; those bastards never give up, even after you pop them in the rump with a Wrist Rocket-propelled marble.
Stranger