Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reminds everyone: A fed bear is a dead bear
If McDonald’s offered free Chicken McNuggets to anyone who showed up, could you resist? That’s what it’s like being a bear.
Raising small livestock like chickens can be a fun, fruitful activity, but in bear country it presents a likely conflict waiting to happen.
Bears are opportunistic eaters, meaning they’ll eat whatever they can get their claws on. And they’ve got an elephant-sized appetite.
In the fall while beefing up before winter denning, a bear will spend about 20 hours a day eating upwards of 20,000 daily calories. Up here in northwest Montana, a majority of grizzly bears’ diets – about 83 percent – is vegetation, i.e. fruits, berries, roots, grasses.
Now, imagine you were hungry and had your pick between a meadow of forbs or an easily accessible coop of protein-rich chickens.
The choice would be simple. That’s the challenge we face living in bear country. Northwest Montana is home to both grizzly and black bears, and a majority of human-bear conflicts involve unsecured food attractants, like chickens. While garbage might be the top source that attracts bears onto private property, chickens are a close second.
Why is this a problem? Once a bear gets into a chicken coop for a tasty meal, that’s a food reward. And with a free handout like that, they’re prone to keep coming back for more. How could they resist?
Food-conditioned wildlife, whether it’s bears or deer, lose their natural foraging behavior so they quit looking for natural food sources and learn to approach residential areas for those unhealthy rewards. This becomes problematic for several reasons.
For bears, it creates a heightened safety risk. That bear now associates your property as its food source. Pretty soon they’re escalating their search for food by more aggressively climbing onto porches or clawing into sheds. Most human-bear encounters involve bears protecting their young or a food source.
We should all try to avoid that. We want to keep people safe and bears wild.
How do we do that? It’s simple. Secure food attractants. When it comes to chickens, a properly constructed electrified fence is both safe for people, livestock and pets, and has proven effective at deterring bears from human-related resources such as beehives, garbage or small livestock.
An electric fence is a good way to teach a bear that this chicken coop is off-limits. Modern low impedance energizers are designed to transfer energy fast enough to shock the animal immediately, providing the oppose of a food reward.
Even though touching an electrified fence is unpleasant, modern energizers are safe and should not produce injury. However, it is always advisable to use common cautions around electrified fencing.
Small electric fences are also relatively affordable. They’re definitely cheaper than losing an entire chicken coop and a family of chickens to a bear. Plus, you’re improving public safety on your property and for your neighbors, and you’re playing an important role in conservation.
Unfortunately, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks specialists must euthanize bears that are very food-conditioned from chickens or other unnatural food sources.
FWP bear specialists want to hear if you’re having a problem with a bear. The sooner they can respond and address the issue, the better.
A bear walking through your yard probably doesn’t warrant concern, but if it’s hanging around getting into garbage or other attractants, let’s work together to address that one right away.
Please report bear encounters and conflicts immediately to FWP or your Tribal wildlife management agency. In northwest Montana, contact: North portion of Flathead County and Eureka area - Justine Vallieres, (406) 250-1265 South portion of Flathead County, Bigfork, Ferndale, and Swan Valley - Erik Wenum, (406) 250-0062 Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem and Sanders County Kim Annis, (406) 291-1320 Flathead Indian Reservation - Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Wildlife Management Program, (406) 275-277 Do you need more info about electric fences?
Contact FWP and we’ll help answer any questions. Or download an FAQ guide on these fences at https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/ bear. Thank you for helping keep people safe and bears wild.