When we first moved to the new place we discovered a sow and three Cubs that hung around the property.
She's back. Last night she was within five feet of our screen window, eating choke cherries from the tree next to the house. I walked into the kitchen and heard what I thought sounded like a bull moose rubbing his antlers through the brush. I thought "no way moose would be rutting now." So I shined my phone light through the window. Yeah, she's at least 7' tall, and was looking at me face to face with mosquito screen between us.
So- we plan on shooting her. She's gotten into the garbage, ripped the fence down, and now she's WAY too close for comfort. Problem is, until we can dispose of her I have Trouble to deal with. He's the only horse on property, young, and in a smallish pasture that has four apple trees in it. I put him in the barn tonight but I have no hay to feed him.
I have no idea how long it will be until we have a chance to deal with Ms. Bear. I don't want to leave him out by himself with her but I don't want to put him in the barn for eight hours a night with no hay. I can get a few bales in two to three nights.
We've dealt with one known bear attack before. An old racehorse of ours needed 70 stitches over his rump and hind legs. We knew it was a bear because he came back the next night and tried to pry the barn door off where he was being kept. The thing was full of ticks and half starved.
So what do y'all think I should do? Make him tough it out in the barn with no hay for a few nights or let him out where he can graze?
Eta: trouble was out 24/7, thus why we don't have hay yet.
Find something you can feed him and keep him stalled until you have dealt with the bear. Beet pulp, haylage, whatever you can get from a feed store for a few nights.
Besides the immediate solution, I think you need to adopt some of the practices here, enforced even, if living in places like Canmore.
No garbage left assessable to attract bears. No fruit tress near the house
We have lots of bears, but attacks of black bears esp, on horses is almost nil. The odd grizzly, maybe
Fact, our entire herd of horses chased a black bear across the pasture once!
Now if you had sheep, calves or mini donkeys, another story!
Look how worries these cows are
Our property was abandoned for almost a full year before we moved in, and the first day we came to check it out we spotted her and her three Cubs. She now appears sporadically off and on. We have a locked garbage box made out of 4x10s to keep animals out but she completely tore it apart.
As for the fruit trees, we benefit from them way too much to be cutting them down, but I will be picking up the drops to make goodies and picking the better ones off the tree. Unfortunately we have a large blackberry patch, large choke cherry trees and Apple trees in our horse pasture.
So smilie, you think he should be okay by himself outside for the night? He has space to run away if something does get too close, and he's quite close to the house so if something runs amuck I will be able to hear it.
Bears don't usually worry a horse unless the horse is seen as a threat - if that bear has young ones with it she might be more likely to be in a defensive mind so your horse would be safer in the barn or maybe in a fenced off area away from whatever it tempting the bear - though the one's we have here walk straight through electric fencing and any other fencing that isn't really solid but unless there's some food source where you put your horse the bear will not be so keen to go in there.
I'd be more worried about the horse escaping through a broken fence than the bear hurting it
I'm assuming you don't need a permit to shoot bear where you are?
If there are lots of berries around, do you think the bear will pose a problem to the horse?? I just know there have been TONS of bear sightings around us this summer due to the large amount of berries. But b/c the bears have the berries, they've rarely bothered a human. If she isn't hungry or threatened, I don't think she'd bother going to bother Trouble.
Do you have CO's there that can take care of the bear? Relocate her and her cubs?
@anndankev -Yah, CO is a conservation officer. They normally take care of any problem bears/wildlife by scaring them off or relocating them. So exactly what you were thinking
Normally I'd totally be against shooting her. She's just trying to eke out a living for her and the cubs. But in this case I'm not sure relocating her would be the best idea. She's already become a problem and is beginning to realize that humans are a food source, so relocating her would just push the problem onto someone else. Maybe contact someone who knows more about it and see what they think of shooting vs. relocation, if it's feasible or not. I'd definitely be keeping my horse stalled at night in the meantime, a sow with cubs is no joke.
We've had to put down bears before, as the COs are pretty useless. We already live in the middle of the woods so there's really nowhere else they can take her. They usually take weeks to come and assess and then if there are no signs of common occurrence they do nothing.
I'm picking up some hay today, found a few bales to tie me over.
I think is be more concerned locking him in a stall. Seems like he'd be easy pickings, like fish in a barrel. At least if he's outside he could run away.
There are several bear sanctuaries in Canada, although I am unfamiliar with the whereabouts of them. You would maybe be able to call them to see if they can help relocate the bear or even home it if it has indeed become such a nuisance, rather than it just be shot. All lives are precious IMO.
Black bears are pretty harmless. I would also try to do something other than shoot her and leave the babies stranded. All she's doing is being a bear and eating, she's not being a nuisance aside from her proximity. In fact my only concern would be due to having the babies she may be a little more protective.
We have had bears in the horse pasture with the horses and they didn't care at all. The horse pasture is adjacent to the sheep pen (and they are shut in at night though bears are the least of our worries) and they don't make a peep.
I'd put up a strand or 2 of hot barbwire. I prefer the fence chargers that are continuous instead of pulsating. Pulsating make the animal more likely to charge ahead compared to continuous which make them back up once touching the wire.
Donkey I have had charged the bears out of the pasture.
Our top strand on wire is hot barbed wire, she goes under it. I'm a bit iffy on barbed wire as Trouble used to have some issues with staying in the pasture.
FYI, in most places it is illegal to shoot a bear who has cubs unless you are a CO. And if you kill the mother and the cubs are old enough to survive but not thrive, you ARE going to have problem bears.
The bear has been there over a year with no humans around.There has to be an adjustment period for all parties. Maybe find someone with dogs who can move her on to another area.
My sister lives where she sees black bears all the time. She has ducks & chickens too but the bears never bother anyone.
It seems a shame to kill a successful mother.
Where I live as a child we had black bears but they didn't come near the houses, gardens and barns unless as a rule. One day though a bear broke through 2 fences to eat duck. The was the first and last time we had problems with him.
If you kill that bear you're going to have more unless you get rid of the fruit trees. And frankly, having garbage where the bear could get it (yes, even if it is locked) is irresponsible. We have bears all over here and we do not leave our garbage outside accept for the hour before curbside pickup, then it immediately goes back in the garage. If you live in bear country your garbage shouldn't be outside, simple.
I'm sorry but this was a very simple, completely avoidable situation. If you had called the COs to assess the situation they would have told you to put your garbage inside of a building or get a bear-proof container.
Okay- we have what the make calls a "bear box". It is supposed to be a bear proof garbage container. I've lived in bear country my whole life as well. The Rangers said there is nothing they can do. He offered to come put it down for us. We declined and said that we'd do it ourselves. She would also go in the freezer so she wouldn't be put to waste. We're buying a fall bear license anyway- so well probably end up getting her then.
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