The bears are back in town once again

Secure the trash

They’re back. Bears have already been spotted this spring in Crested Butte and the surrounding area including the Skyland subdivision.
“It’s not surprising that the bears are starting to re-appear,” said Crested Butte chief marshal Tom Martin. “We’ve actually seen them earlier than this. When they do wake up, they’re hungry so it’s important to keep the trash secured.”

Each spring, the Colorado Division of Wildlife deals with the waking bruins across the state. According to a new press release that reports bears have been spotted near Crested Butte already this spring, “Black bears are large, intelligent omnivores that will be looking for a first meal of new plant growth and fresh grass when they come out of hibernation. But once their digestive systems are up and running, bears become opportunistic feeders that will eagerly exploit any available nutrition, including wild and human-created food sources.”
Wild foods are essential for bears—berries, insects, acorns, forbs, plants and carrion. But when people fail to store garbage, pet food or bird feeders properly, bears will find those sources and cause conflicts in residential and business areas. In addition to residential garbage, pet food, bird seed, and greasy barbecue grills are common bear attractants.
Around commercial areas, unsecured restaurant Dumpsters can quickly become targets for bears. Once a bear becomes habituated to human food and loses its fear of people, it can present a risk to public safety. Bears that become a risk to human safety often have to be euthanized.
The town wildlife regulations will be strictly enforced,” emphasized Martin. “They make a huge difference and we’ve all probably gotten a little lax, but the time has come when we have to be vigilant. So secure the Dumpsters and make sure you have the bear resistant containers working. We will be strictly enforcing the wildlife rules.
“We’ve taken some good steps forward,” Martin continued. “So secure your trash and don’t let them finds a food source and they won’t stay around.”