Following a series of black bear encounters at Star Valley Ranch this year, the community reached out for assistance and education.

After bears were found getting into garbage cans, raiding apple trees and attempting to enter homes, one bear was re-located and mother bear with two cubs had to be euthanized by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Coming at the invitation from the Town of Star Valley Ranch, Kristen Combs with Jackson Hole Bear Solutions and Sheena Patel, the programs and operations manager for Wyoming Wildlife Advocates offered a presentation in the town hall.

Combs said, “We really just want to make it so that people are aware that bears, this year in particular, are having a really hard time with natural foods, and they’re looking to people to put on these calories for this time of hyperphagia, where they’re looking for calories before they hibernate,” she explained. “We want to make it so that people are not inviting bears to their neighborhood.”

Combs advised, keeping bears moving through and back out into the wild, “because we want to keep bears wild, and people safe.”

She added, “Bears don’t need human food to survive, and it’s really bad for them, and it’s bad for people if the bears are in close proximity to people.”

Patel offered advice on the handling of garbage. “One of the best ways to get bears to avoid your property is by storing your garbage securely,” she said. “One of the best ways to do that is to get a bear resistant trash can or to make sure you keep your trash stored and secured before trash day because as we all know, a fed bear is a dead bear.”

Combs offered, “We really just appreciate the efforts of Star Valley Ranch. Be aware that bears are in and around their neighborhood, and that we’re here in bear country.”

She concluded, “You might have a bear in your neighborhood, and near your house. Now is the time to really do something about that, and make sure you’re just keeping bears wild.”

Combs noted the website jhbearsolutions.org for additional information.