Dear Neighbors,
In drought years, some of New Mexico’s bears become problem bears. The reason is three-pronged:

1. hungry bears eating unprotected, available garbage
2. foraging in fruit trees
3. mountain residents calling NMG&F to trap these bears.

None of us have the power to change our climate. Unfortunately, in 2001, 2002 and 2003, East Mountain residents asked NMG&F to trap and remove a very large percentage of our bear population.

You may ask why? Those of you who have requested trapping don’t want the bears killed; you just want them off your property. Unfortunately, a trapped bear is tagged and a tagged bear is one step closer to being destroyed. How many more times do you think NMG&F officers will tag a bear before destroying it? Trapping bears for apples and unprotected garbage is extremely time consuming for the NMG&F. In 2001 alone, over $40,000 of a slim department budget was spent on trapping and relocating bears. And most important, it doesn’t work. Most of the surviving bears returned to the same open, unprotected garbage cans or apple trees that still had apples. In drought years there is scant to non-existent acorns for fall forage. Apples can be the only food left for a bear facing a five month long winter hibernation. What other alternative does this animal have in bad years?

NMG&F said that a large percentage of the bears they trapped in the in 2001-2003 came from resident’s requesting that bears be removed from their fruit trees. BearWatch and I, along with NMG&F Officers and most of the people who live here, believe that living in the mountains comes with a special responsibility; to do everything possible to not negatively impact our wildlife.

Apples in a drought year are an attractant just as is available garbage and birdseed. People are responsible for that attractant, not the bear. If you don’t want to share your apples with a hungry bear, you can (1) pick and remove all apples from your trees to avoid visiting bears and broken tree limbs, (2) put up a 1 to 5 strand electric fence around your trees, (3) Leave your unused apples on the ground for our hungry bears (4) have patience and realize that this is a drought year and that future years will bring us more moisture so our remaining bears will chose to stay higher on the mountain.

For the very first time in 19 years, I had a bear in my large, very old apple tree. I could hear branches breaking and it was also breaking my heart; I love that beautiful old tree! There was some damage but this is what comes with living with bear in our small mountain range.

Without a real effort on behalf of all mountain residents, our bear population will be non-existent in a few short years. How very sad to have a sterile mountain with no bears. Please choose to save a bear. Don’t call for trapping unless there is a safety issue with the bear trying to come into the house or a bear is hanging around your home and won’t leave.

Please feel free to call your local Wildlife Steward or me at any time if you have questions. We care about our mountain neighbors and about the wildlife living here.