Aug. 31, 2012
TOWER - Hardly a day has gone by this summer at the Department of Natural Resources offices in Tower without someone calling about bears.

"We're getting a nuisance complaint a day," said Tom Rusch, DNR Wlidlife Manger at Tower. "From all over our work area."

Poor natural food production has lead to a lack of the kind of treats bears prefer - berries and nuts - and the animals have been hitting garbage cans, grills and bird feeders across the Iron Range looking for something to eat.

And while DNR officials admit the bears are out roaming, they also concede there is nothing they can do about it.

"We don't trap them," Rusch said, adding that the agency used to do it years ago but found the practice to be time consuming, expensive and inefficient.

"It's a poor use of taxpayer money. In the 90's we trapped and ear tagged them. We went 40 miles away with them and found out they would just come back," Rusch said. "Either that or the young ones just created problems where we put them."

While the DNR won't move bears that are causing a problem, officials there do try to work with residents to help them remove attractants.

Rusch said bears have great memories and will remember where they got easy food from year to year no matter how far they travel.

So the best thing to do is avoid making it easy for them to get at things like garbage cans, grills and bird feeders.

Rusch suggest not putting garbage cans out at night or storing them in locked sheds. He also said it's probably a good idea to stop feeding birds during late summer and early fall as bears are attracted to sunflower seeds and other things found in the food.