Bear Matters BC

“People living on the edge of the forest want to be able to live their lives. They want to have some fruit trees, a compost pile or a few bird feeders,” said Pattie Sowka of the Living with Wildlife Foundation. “At the same time they don’t want to be responsible for the death of a bear or some other critter.”
 

That’s where electric fencing - or maybe an electrified birdfeeder or welcome mat - can make all the difference.
  Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the the Living with Wildlife Foundation are hoping folks looking for a way to keep critters at bay will stop in at Missoula’s Quality Supply, 2801 W. Broadway, on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to learn the importance of joule ratings, proper grounding, fence maintenance and the best ways to power fences both at home and in the backcountry.
 The free workshop will focus on ways all sorts of landowners can use electric fencing to prevent wildlife from gaining access to attractants like gardens, haystacks, fruit trees, chicken coops and beehives.
 “With new products coming online all the time, you can adapt a system to almost any need,” Sowka said. “I’ve been told there’s virtually nothing that can’t be electrified.”
 A sudden zap of electricity can be a life-changing experience for a wild critter - and one that could save its life.
  “It is easy for a bear to learn bad habits if goodies are left outside of houses,” said Jamie Jonkel, FWP’s bear specialist in Missoula. “Once bears become dependent on neighborhood food sources the behavior is hard to alter and the bears often have to be relocated. An animal that returns time and again after it is relocated is considered a threat to public safety and may have to be euthanized.”
 Electric fencing can provide the kind of averse conditioning that helps bears and other wildlife change behavior that gets them into trouble, Jonkel said.
 Often as not, the easiest place for a wild animal to make a living is in the urban fringe. The grass is greener and flowers tastier for the hoofed variety of critter, and bird feeders, overflowing garbage cans and fruit trees can make a neighborhood a virtual smorgasbord for a bear.
 “In some ways the habitat’s much better … but you don’t raise the stereotypical Montana wild animal there,” Jonkel said. “As these areas continue to build up with new houses and other development, wildlife is adapting just as we are. It’s our challenge to keep them wild.
  “We want to do everything we can to keep wild bears from becoming urban bears,” he said.
 Electric fence manufacturers are improving and modifying their equipment to help meet that challenge.
 “The energizers are getting better all the time,” Jonkel said. “They are also coming up with a lot of new and different designs. There are fences that not only look attractive, but also do a good job of keeping bears and other critters away from attractants.”
 There are also a number of new tools people can employ to teach wildlife a valuable lesson about hanging around humankind.
  “There are electrified bird feeders that can give a bear a good zap,” Jonkel said. “That experience could change a young bear’s behavior around bird feeders for the rest of its life.”
 If people are having problems with bears getting up on their decks, there are electrified “unwelcome mats” that are certain to make a bear think twice before getting too close to a home again. For the Dumpster-diving bruin, there’s the electrified garbage container.
 “We’ve even had some people electrify a cooler,” Jonkel said. “There’s no limit to it.”
 Some ranchers, especially in the Blackfoot area, have put electric fencing around their ranch headquarters to keep wandering bears away from calves, bone yards and feed.
  “Bears traveling through the area get zapped and they learn to steer clear of the ranch headquarters,” Jonkel said. “People can do the same thing around their yards. … It allows bears, deer, elk and mountain lions to use the countryside around the edge without learning to take advantage of the attractants near people’s homes or ranches.”
 Jonkel said he hopes a good variety of people will turn out at the workshop to learn more about using electricity as a buffer for wildlife.
 Larry Feight of High Country Ag Marketing will present the program in cooperation with FWP, the Living with Wildlife Foundation and Quality Supply.
 Fencing displays will be set up for most of the day, and presenters will be available after the workshop to address questions about products and fencing techniques. For more information, contact Quality Supply at 549-2355 or FWP at 542-5500.
  Zap ‘em
 Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the the Living with Wildlife Foundation will present a workshop on electric fencing from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at Missoula’s Quality Supply, 2801 W. Broadway.