“Unsecured attractants are the single biggest factor for bears coming into conflict with humans.” — Tim Manley, Grizzly Bear Specialist, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
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“The primary cause of human and black bear conflict along the urban-wildland interface has been attributed to the availability of human-food sources.” — Spencer et al. 2007, Beckmann et al. 2008, Greenleaf et al. 2009
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“Properly securing garbage and other attractants is the single most important action for reducing conflict situations with bears.” — Richard Corbett, Florida Wildlife Commission chairman
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“Trash is the No. 1 food attractant by a long ways.” — Dave Lewis, masters degree student at Colorado State University
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“Most nuisance bear problems stem from people either intentionally or inadvertently providing food for the animals.” — NC Wildlife Resources Commission biologist, Colleen Olfenbuttel
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“When we associate bears and humans generally 9 times out of 10 it was because of a trash situation.” — JT Romatzke, Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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“In Volusia County, we had some put up and roughly 90% of the people in that community had bear problems and after we got those cans in the community that dropped all the way down to about 5%.” — Mike Orlando, Florida Fish & Wildlife
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“Aversive conditioning, like lethal removal, will not be an effective management strategy if human food remains in the area.” — Rachel Mazur, Sequoia National Park, 2010
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“If you secure your garbage and remove bird feeders, you have addressed the two temptations that cause the vast majority of bear/human conflicts in New Hampshire. Removing these two common attractants will go a long way towards reducing the number of annual bear complaints.” — Andrew Timmins, New Hampshire Fish and Game, Bear Project Leader
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“Controlling food availability may be the best way to limit the nuisance behavior. But removing problem bears or changing their behaviors will continue to be important because complete elimination of food attractants is unlikely, and some bears already associate people with food.” — Andrew Tri
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The main attractant for bears in her district is unsecured garbage (85 percent of the calls). — Tonya Sharp, Colorado Parks & Wildlife
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“Two-thirds of human-bear conflict in the Province of Ontario were related to improperly stored garbage.” — Dr. Martyn Obbard, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
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“But the whole thing about trapping and moving bears is, does it really resolve the problem? Why was the bear causing issues to begin with? I almost guarantee you it’s because of trash and fruit trees.” — Kevin Wright, Colorado Parks & Wildlife
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“Common complaints are bears breaking into garbage enclosures or sheds, damage to fruit trees and bears breaking into homes and vehicles. All of these are directly related to garbage, which historically accounts for >95% of the total number of calls received.” — Carl Lackey, Nevada Black Bear Status Report, 2009
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“The root of the problem is that we’re leaving food out to attract bears.” — Tom Beck, retired CDOW black bear researcher
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“Increasing human conflicts can be an indicator of increasing bear populations, but locally is believed to be more a factor of increasing human population and development in prime bear habitat.” — Black Bear Data Analysis Unit Management Plan Draft, DAU B-6, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 2012
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“The vast majority of human-bear conflicts can be addressed by decreasing the availability of human garbage.” — Tony Wasley, Nevada Department of Wildlife
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“Unsecured trash is the principal cause of the increase in wildlife activity in the City (Durango).” — Patt Dorsey, Colorado Parks & Wildlife
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“The only permanent solution is removal of the attractant (trash). It would probably take care of 90 percent of the problem.” — Carl Lackey, Nevada Department of Wildlife