Study: Hard to keep wild bears from food

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A biologist said her four-year study in Florida of ways to keep bears from searching garbage cans and camp sites found the wild animals are insistent foragers.

Biologist Rachel Mazur said by using a variety of methods to discourage the bears' foraging behaviors in Florida's Sequoia National Park, she learned most bears will return to a foraging site even if driven away, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel said Tuesday.

"Bears are evolved to take on calories," she said. "They are creative, they're clever, they are persistent, they have good memories, they have great senses -- and you're trying to go against all of that."

Mazur said 82 percent of the bears who were doused with pepper spray as part of her study eventually returned to the same location in search of food within an hour's time.

The biologist said while more than 90 percent of bears tended to run away from foraging sites after being shot with a rubber slug, half of those animals return within an hour to search for food.

"The real fix is so simple -- put the food away -- but it's so difficult because it requires people to comply," Mazur told the Herald of the only true way to avoid bear foraging.