Something No Alabama Resident Wants To See Coming Home
Living in Alabama is more dangerous than ever before!
We have killer snakes
alligators (even at the beach)
and now bears are appearing everywhere.
This is not something we are not aware of. Yet the thought of pulling into my driveway and catching 2 bears in the act, well now that’s a story. See the entire video below.
We know that we should always be cautious around any wildlife, because of the snakes and other creepy crawlers, but bears were not on my radar till now.
How does one react to bears doing the dirty deed in your driveway?
Do you beep your horn at them?
The correct answer is to let them be, but pull out your phone and make a video!
This may be the only recorded incident, that I have found, of bears doing it in Suburbia USA.
There are many incidents of bears being too close to home for Alabamians?
An Alabama woman was cleaning up her yard and throwing the grass clippings into her trash can when she looked up and saw a bear less than 30 yards away from her.
Amanda Fortner Mitchell, who lives in Fort Payne, said she heard rustling in the woods next to her house and thought it was a squirrel or maybe even a bird.
Let’s be honest. None of us would think to watch out for bears.
Now I know better.
Yet, I can only imagine the initial fear that both of these incidents caused when they spotted the bears that were making themselves feel at home.
The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division have an online form where Alabama residents can report Black Bear sightings.
Report sightings: https://game.dcnr.alabama.gov/BlackBear
Recently Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division announced that Black Bears can now be found in every county in this great state of Alabama.
The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division also posted a series of frequently asked questions about Black Bears.
Lock It Or Lose It
Have you seen news stories or videos featuring bears “breaking in” to homes and cars looking for food? What many stories don’t mention is that much of the time the bear isn’t breaking in. It’s just following its nose to something that smells like food, cleverly opening an unlocked door or window and making itself at home.
Black bears have relatively short, curved claws (often under 2 inches) that are well adapted for climbing trees and tearing into rotten logs in search of insects. They’re also well-suited for opening lever-style handles and sliding doors, unscrewing jar tops, opening coolers and picnic baskets and pushing up unlocked windows.
Easy In, Tough Getting Out
Our vehicles are often full of food, or stuff that smells like food. Unfortunately, vehicle doors can close on their own, trapping the enterprising explorer inside. Bears don’t have thumbs, so vehicle doors are much harder for a bear to open from the inside.
Black bears are strong enough to peel down a window that’s open an inch or two and flexible enough that even large bears can crawl through an open window if they see or smell something interesting inside. Research shows that leaving your window cracked open only drops the temperature inside your vehicle by a degree or two, but makes it much easier for a bear to pop out the window to get inside.
Bears are very smart and very strong, and many trapped bears have no problem clawing their way out of the average vehicle. But fur coats are better at keeping bears hot than cool. When temperatures soar, the interior of a car can get hot enough to kill a trapped bear in a matter of minutes.
Even if the bear does manage to get out, many wildlife management agencies have firm policies that dictate that bears that enter homes and/or vehicles must be destroyed.
TIP: Many insurance policies do not cover wildlife damage to vehicles or homes.
CLEAN UP, ROLL UP, LOCK UP
- Get everyone in the habit of cleaning out your vehicle when you get out of it. Don’t leave pet food, bird seed, snacks, trash, chewing gum, candy, scented air fresheners, sunscreen, lip balm, hand lotion or anything else with an odor inside, even for a few hours. Or sitting in the truck bed.
- Avoid scented air fresheners.
- Lock your doors and roll up and lock your windows, even if you’re just parked in your driveway or in front of your rental. This will also deter opportunistic humans up to no good.
- If you’re away from home and must leave a cooler, picnic basket or other goodies in your vehicle, close windows, lock up and store stuff out of sight. If you spend a lot of time outdoors in bear country, consider investing in a bear-resistant cooler (learn more).
Planning a road trip? Read our article on Vacationing in Bear Country and download our BearWise Vacation Tips flyer before you hit the road.
Locks And Latches Won’t Work If You Don’t Use Them
If you leave the doors and windows to your home or home-away-from-home open and unlocked, you’re issuing an invitation to bears (and burglars) to drop in, nose around and help themselves. Having a bear drop in unexpectedly can be scary. It only takes a few minutes to lock up it takes a lot longer to clean up after a bear visit.
- Don’t leave anything with an odor inside a screened-in porch or on or under the deck.
- Locking screen doors or windows doesn’t do much good; for a bear, clawing through a screen is like brushing away a pesky cobweb.
- If you live or are visiting an area with a lot of bear activity, close and lock ground floor and other bear-accessible windows and doors (that means upper-level windows and doors a bear could easily access by climbing up a convenient tree ladder or porch post.)
- Close your garage doors, especially if you store pet food, birdseed or garbage in there.
- Unless you’re using bear-resistant containers, use a trash bag inside a container with an airtight lid and use ammonia sachets to help mask any lingering odors.
Have a fridge or freezer in your garage? Exhaust vents emit odors we can’t smell but are easily picked up by a bear’s sensitive nose. If you’re lucky, the bear will open the door, rummage around, eat the food with the most calories and leave you with a mess to clean up. If you’re not so lucky, the fridge/freezer door will be stubborn and the bear may need to destroy it to get at the food. If your garage has a flimsy panel door, it’s best not to store anything with an odor inside.
Thanks for being BearWise. You’re helping to people safe and bears alive and wild.
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