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SALMON, Idaho - Black bears in search of food are wreaking havoc across the western United States, with wildlife managers reporting a record number of conflicts with people and a rise in the number of bears killed to protect the public.
"It's nuts out there," said Kevin Hurley,
wildlife management coordinator with Wyoming Game and Fish.
American black bears, which are exclusive to North America, dwell in forests from Mexico to Canada. Weighing from 68kg to 227kg, adult bears can have a range of up to 648sq km.
They begin hunting for high-calorie foods immediately after emerging from hibernation in spring and forage for up to 20 hours a day until they enter dens in fall.
Late freezes, drought and tree infestations in the Rocky Mountain West have diminished the sources of natural food from bugs to berries the bears eat. Now they are hunting for food in all the wrong places, from backcountry campgrounds to suburban kitchens.
In recent days, bear sightings have locked down schools in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming and emptied neighbourhoods as officials sought to capture or kill them.
In Colorado, bears have burst through the front doors of homes, sauntered into stores and broken into cars. Officials say the number of bears killed by state wildlife officers this year has topped a record 43 killed between January and August in 2002.
"It's a difficult day here when we decide we have to put down a bear; it's the last thing we want to have to do," said Colorado Division of Wildlife's Tyler Baskfield.
Wildlife officers in northwest Wyoming, where luxury housing is crowding into prime bear habitat, are fielding 100 calls a week about bears feasting in fruit trees and snoozing on front lawns. Game wardens have killed twice as many bears this season - conservatively estimated at 15 - as they kill in an average year.
In Montana, hungry bears have ploughed through dumpsters and grabbed garbage from garages, a pattern Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Captain Sam Sheppard says is unusual for its scope, duration and intensity.
Wildlife officers across Western states have renewed campaigns to stem bear conflicts by retraining humans.
In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where a bear recently lumbered through the open door of a daycare center, officials have plastered neighbourhoods with signs urging residents to harvest fruit, remove birdfeeders and "bear-proof" their garbage.
"Bears are just being bears," said Mark Bruscino, bear management programme supervisor with Wyoming Game and Fish, noting that people living near bear country have a social obligation to take steps to discourage the animals from foraging in populated areas.
- REUTERS