I'll stick with Raccoons...

[teejk]

Nonsense...

A bear follows it's nose through it's "range". It's there because it smells something tasty. It should have a natural fear of humans, this can be lost when the bear comes to associate the smell of humans with food.

I will disagree...they put on a ton of fat in advance of their annual "nap". They will survive on that for a while when they wake up. There is a brief window between where they deplete their fat reserves and the deer fawns are born (forest berries come later). They indeed "wander" miles for anything to eat.

 

[ovrszd]

Surprising how many people think wild animals should have a natural fear of us. Why? We are simply a fellow resident in their life that they have to deal with.

 

[Toyboy]

Surprising how many people think wild animals should have a natural fear of us. Why? We are simply a fellow resident in their life that they have to deal with.

Well, yes and no.
Wild animals do fear us, until they become accustomed to not fear us. That's when the problems start.

 

[Cramby]

How about this guy dancing around the backyard. Might have to zoom photo to get a good look.

 

[roadhunter]

Surprising how many people think wild animals should have a natural fear of us. Why? We are simply a fellow resident in their life that they have to deal with.

They should. We march around with guns shooting at many of them certain times of the year. My elk tag arrived last week.

 

[ultrarunner]

But they are so cute

Bears Come Down to Beach to Swim Amongst Humans in Lake Tahoe - YouTube

"In a conflict between Man and the beasts, I believe I would side with the bears"

I was just going to post about Lake Tahoe... bears are back and quite at home... they walk residential neighborhoods in broad daylight and are protected.

Many are having to buy $600+ bear trash cans for garbage collection to avoid fines.

I lost 500 gallons of $2.54 a gallon propane when a bear ripped the line off the tank...

Could have been a disaster because the tank is close to a neighbor's garage... he was going to park in his garage but used the driveway instead and noticed the propane immediately...

 

[ultrarunner]

How about this guy dancing around the backyard. Might have to zoom photo to get a good look.

It's Gentle Ben all grown up!

 

[TomSeller]

Apple trees attract them, had that problem last year.

 

[dickfoster]

Apple trees attract them, had that problem last year.

Anything you like to eat, they like to eat. If they can smell it they will try to get at it. A neighbor down the road has fruit trees and a mother bear and cubs climb up a tree and over the back fence to get to them. My next door neighbor had a bear climb up a post and onto her second story deck just to get to a bird feeder. They all know when it's garbage day and are out the night before.