UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- When Pennsylvania game commissioners voted at their April meeting in Harrisburg to make their bear-feeding ban permanent, Gary San Julian was pleased. But it will take more than banning feeding, the Penn State professor of wildlife resources believes, to cut down on spring bear-human conflicts around the commonwealth.

"In the spring, people just have to be aware that bears are hungry and looking for food," he says. "They should take down the bird feeders if bears have been seen in their neighborhood. This time of year, adult females chase the cubs from the den so they can look for new mates. The young males may travel miles to find a new home range, often roving through residential neighborhoods at night, feeding on garbage and bird feeders."

If people have a history of bears in their neighborhoods, San Julian suggests they stop feeding birds from now until July. "Black bears like suet and seeds and will pull down wrought-iron posts and chew through feeders to get to it," he says.

He also suggests cleaning up loose grain and keeping garbage cans tightly sealed. "If you feed your pets outside, bring the food in when they're done," he adds. "Don't leave out dog and cat food. Pet foods attract bears and other wildlife bandits, like raccoons and rats."

Bear damage can be distinguished from damage by other animals by the size of the mess. "Smaller animals such as raccoons are more fastidious," San Julian says. "They'll climb inside a garbage can to poke through the contents. But a bear usually will knock over the can and spread the contents all over the yard."

Black bears also have easily recognized footprints. "They're the heaviest animal in Pennsylvania -- they can weigh over 500 pounds," San Julian says. Their hind prints resemble a 7- inch-long human footprint, while their front paws are smaller, usually 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide. "Sometimes you'll see piles of bear feces," he says. "It's much larger than droppings from a dog."

You usually can scare bears from your yard by yelling at them. However, when homeowners leave food out, bears become familiar with an area and lose their fear of humans. "That's a major problem with many of our wildlife species -- we treat them like pets," he says. "Many animals have had to be destroyed because people left food out for them."

San Julian says fed bears get used to people, don't want to leave and may have to be trapped and moved. "After moving the same bear a couple of times, it is better and safer to put it down. You don't know when the next problem may be more severe."

The black bear population in Pennsylvania increased from about 2,500 in 1975 to about 15,000 in 2003. They often are found near the edges of wooded areas they use for travel lanes. "These days, you might even see a bear sneaking through urban areas such as Philadelphia or Pittsburgh," San Julian notes.

No one has been killed by a black bear in Pennsylvania in the past 100 years. Although black bear attacks on humans are very rare, San Julian offers some advice: "If the bear is standing and clicking its jaw, that's a real sign of aggression. Don't run -- back up slowly to leave the area. Although the advice for a grizzly bear attack is to curl up in the fetal position and play dead, fight a black bear as hard as you can. Hit it with your camera, binoculars, a stick or a rock. Usually it will go away."

Black bears generally are aggressive only when you get between a mother and her cubs, San Julian says. "Don't climb a tree to get away. Bears are excellent climbers -- often the mother will send a cub up a tree to protect it. If you climb that tree, she's not going to be happy."

If a farmer or homeowner has a continuing bear problem -- not just a nuisance -- they can contact the Pennsylvania Game Commission. "A conservation officer will help you decide what should be done," San Julian says. "The officer may bring a barrel trap, live trap the bear and move it to another area.

"A bear coming through your yard and taking out a bird feeder isn't a major problem," he adds. "It's just one of the niceties of living with our native wildlife -- and a great story to tell your friends."

The Game Commission, in a move to make permanent its effort to reduce conflicts between humans and black bears, recently gave preliminary approval to a regulatory change that removes the sunset provision on the current prohibition on feeding bears.

The regulation originally was set to end on Oct. 31, 2004, unless re-authorized by the Game Commission. In January of 2003, the board approved a ban on the intentional and unintentional feeding of bears. The agency's Nuisance Black Bear Management Committee had reported that feeding bears leads to increases in both nuisance complaints and chances of bears injuring humans.

"In light of the state's growing bear and human populations in some areas, we have an obligation to take action to reduce conflicts when and where we can," said Mark Ternent, Game Commission bear biologist. "All too often, human complaints about bears can be traced back to intentional or unintentional feeding of bears.

"To protect the public, as well as bears," he adds, "we need to avoid the dangers of conditioning bears to find food around homes. It would be irresponsible to do otherwise."

The regulation, enacted last year, made it illegal to intentionally feed bears. In addition, if other wildlife feeding attracted nuisance bears, and residents called the Game Commission to voice their concern, a wildlife conservation officer was authorized to issue a written notice prohibiting the unintentional feeding of bears at that location. Further feeding could result in the issuance of a citation.

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EDITORS: Contact Gary San Julian at 814-863-0401 or by e-mail at gsjulian@psu.edu.

Writer/Editor: Jeff Mulhollem Office 814-863-2719 FAX 814-863-9877