With an early summer on its way, residents should remember that spring cleaning isn’t the only thing that should be on their mind. Bears are already starting to be spotted in the Houston area and are out of hibernation in the lower mainland. With snow quickly melting in Houston, it should be expected that our woodland neighbours could start paying rural areas a visit in the next week or two.
However, this isn’t too out of the ordinary explains Greg Small, Houston Conservation Officer, “Some bears will actually come out of the den during the winter if they didn’t have a good fall to find food sources and it’s not abnormally cold”. With trends of longer, more arid summers, residents can expect bears to be encroaching upon civilization more and more if the berry crops don’t provide enough food to satisfy the bears needs.
To stay bear safe, taking out the garbage the day of pick up and freezing waste such as meat before bringing it out are things you can do to reduce the smell.
Also, a widespread practice that residents can work together to mitigate is leaving bird feeders out during the summer.
“They’ve got their natural food sources, berries, dried up berries, there’s seeds that they’ll eat. There’s no need to have bird feeders out during the summer months. I know everybody likes to see the birds, but it’s providing an unnatural food source that bears remember” said Small.
By putting in the extra effort and keeping our communities bear safe you can then focus on the more enjoyable aspects of spring in our beautiful communities.