Securing Household Attractants

Garbage is one of the most common sources of human-bear conflict. Recycling waste and empty food and drink containers can also attract bears due to food residue in the packaging.

To keep bears out of garbage and other waste, store it in a certified bear-resistant garbage can or in a locked, hard-sided building at all times until the day of disposal. Using both a bear-resistant container and storing that container in a secure building until garbage pickup day is ideal.

If you use a trash hauling service:

Contact your trash hauler directly to request a bear-resistant canister or information on how to obtain one. These cans may come with a small additional service fee. Do not buy your own can without first talking with your trash hauler as they may not service a can you’ve purchased yourself.

If possible, do not put garbage out until one or two hours before the truck arrives.

If you haul your trash to a dump or transfer station:

Buy a certified bear-resistant canister to store your garbage until you dispose of it, especially if you keep it outdoors. Find a list of certified bear-resistant products, including garbage cans, here. You can often find these cans at local hardware stores (including Ace Hardware, Home Depot, and Lowe’s). If they aren’t available in store, they can often be found online or the store can order them for you.

Keep these other tips in mind:

• Don’t overfill your bear-resistant can. Make sure the lid is closed and locked.

• Never leave garbage on your balcony or porch, even if it is screened. Bears are great climbers and can tear through screens.

• Don’t let garbage pile up or develop strong odors. Minimize odors by storing garbage in tightly closed plastic trash bags.

• Do not discard cooking grease in your yard. Collect it in a glass, plastic, or metal container. When you’re ready to dispose of it, transfer it to a sealed plastic bag and put it in the trash can.

If you compost outside, surround compost piles or containers with electric fencing. Place compost away from forest edges, thickets, and natural pathways used by bears.

While there aren’t currently any IGBC or Wildlife Management Institute certified bear-resistant composters, some compost containers may hold up to bears better than others, like the Good Ideas brand Compost Wizard Dueling Tumbler. You can also use a bear-resistant garbage can to store compost that hasn’t broken down yet.

Beyond securing your compost, decrease the smells from compost, as bears are attracted to odors:

• When adding new food scraps, mix them into the pile instead of leaving them on top.

• Avoid composting meat, bones, dairy products, fatty items, grease, and unrinsed eggshells.

• Combine “green” items (kitchen scraps, vegetables, small amounts of fruit) with at least double the amount of “brown” items (dead leaves, dry garden and grass clippings, wood chips, egg cartons, newspaper, cardboard).

• Sprinkle compost with lime to aid in decomposition and reduce odors.

Find more information about composting in bear country in this guide, and check out this short video.

And consider some alternatives to backyard composting: give indoor, vermicomposting a try. Or start a community compost at your local electric-fenced landfill.

Depending on what is planted, gardens and landscaping can attract bears.

No matter what plants are attracting bears, electric fencing is a useful tool. You can add electric fencing around a single garden bed or fruit tree, or around an entire yard, garden, or orchard. Temporary electric fencing can be especially useful if you don’t want a fence up year-round.

It’s also good practice to remove plants and shrubs that bears like to eat from high-foot-traffic areas like entrances, doorways, walkways, and children’s play areas.

Fruit- and Nut-Bearing Trees and Shrubs

Bears will eat fruit whether it’s on or off a tree, ripe or not ripe. The same is true for ornamental fruiting trees like mountain ash/rowan trees and crabapples. Surround trees and shrubs with electric fencing.

Harvest all fruit as it ripens, if not before ripening (it can finish ripening indoors). Make sure to pick up windfall and other fallen fruit regularly.

Make sure harvesting fruit is a manageable activity. Prune trees so they are a manageable size or consider getting dwarf varieties. To reduce fruit production, use a hose to spray off some blossoms in springtime.

If you need help harvesting, ask a friend or neighbor to help, or contact a local wildlife organization to ask if they have a gleaning or picking program. Social media platforms often have neighborhood fruit exchange programs; look for one in your area. If you have a wildlife sanctuary in your area, they may accept donations of fruit; be sure to call ahead.

Keep all harvested fruit in a locked, hard-sided building. If you need a way to temporarily store harvested fruit, use a bear-resistant garbage can.

If you do not use or want to harvest the fruit, consider removing the plants and replacing them with a non-fruiting variety.

Green Spaces

Dandelions, clover, sweet vetch, and certain grasses are natural bear foods. Keep lawns mowed and weeded.

Consider adding electric fencing around yards, or use bear deterrents, like scare devices, during times when bears may frequent green spaces.

Vegetable Gardens

Vegetable gardens, especially those with potatoes and root vegetables like carrots and beets, can attract bears. Harvest vegetables as they ripen. Surround gardens with electric fencing.

Avoid using blood meal and fish fertilizer, as these can be enticing for a bear, as can other fertilizers.

Native Plants

Talk with local bear managers or refer to local wildlife information hubs and documents to learn which native plants bears eat in your area (like this document for Montana’s grizzlies).

Remove native bear foods from high human traffic areas. If planted in a garden, add electric fencing around the area.

For more information on landscaping in bear country, check out these guides:

• Wildlife Smart Landscaping: A Guide for Professionals

• The following guides are aimed at those in Whistler, B.C., but have information relevant to many communities:

  • Wildlife Smart Landscaping in Whistler: A guide for Professionals

  • Wildlife Smart Landscaping: A Whistler Resident’s Guide

Don’t leave food or drinks (other than plain water) unattended outside. As soon as you are finished eating outside, bring all dishes, containers, utensils and uneaten food inside the house. Promptly and properly discard all cans, used paper plates, cups, disposable containers, and napkins.

Coolers

Store coolers in locked, hard-sided buildings. If a cooler needs to be stored outside for a period of time, use a bear-resistant cooler; don’t forget to lock it.

Fridges and Freezers

If possible, keep fridges and freezers in locked, hard-sided buildings. If kept outside, add electric fencing around the area. You can also build a bear-resistant enclosure. Contact your local fish and wildlife officer or bear manager for design guidance.

Food residue and grease on barbeques, smokers, griddles, ovens, and other outdoor cookers can attract bears. Burn your barbeque clean and remove all grease and food residues as soon as possible after cooking. Remove and dispose of grease collected in drip cans or grease trays every time you use your barbeque, and clean cans and trays thoroughly before returning them to the barbeque (or store them inside). If you use lava rocks to trap grease, replace them with ceramic bricks that are easier to clean.

When not in use, if possible, store barbeques in locked, hard-sided buildings. Follow proper storage guidelines for propane tanks.

Keep in mind that smells from cooking, especially if using a smoker, can attract bears. Be alert while cooking, and don’t leave any food unattended outside.

While garbage typically takes the top spot as a leading cause of human-bear conflicts, backyard chickens are often close behind.

Chickens, chicken feed, and eggs are all bear attractants. A properly installed and maintained electric fence around the coop and yard or run is the best way to keep chickens safe. Store chicken feed in a hard-sided, locked building or bear-resistant container (bear-resistant garbage cans work great for this), ideally away from the coop.

The same goes for other small livestock like geese, ducks, quails, goats, and rabbits. Make sure they have a secure, electrified enclosure, and store feed in a hard-sided, locked building or bear-resistant container.

For more information about farming and ranching in bear country, head to our Agriculture page.

If you have beehives, be sure to surround them with electric fencing. Learn more about beekeeping in bear country on our Beekeepers page.

Feed your pets inside and store their food, bowls, and any treats like dog bones indoors. Otherwise, store food and supplies in a bear-resistant container.

Don’t leave food out for strays or other animals, either.

Avoid using any type of birdfeeder during bear season—that includes suet and hummingbird feeders. Check with your local wildlife officials to learn when bears are active in your area. Birds have access to plenty of natural foods during this time.

If you had a birdfeeder up while bears were hibernating, don’t forget to clean up any spent seed below feeders. If you have spare birdseed, store it in a hard-sided, locked building.

To ensure birds keep coming to your yard, but bears stay away, add a bird bath and non-fruiting trees and shrubs. As an alternative to hummingbird feeders, plant red or pink native flowers.

Don’t put out salt and mineral blocks for wildlife. Your intention might be to draw deer, elk, and moose, but bears and cougars may also be attracted to your property.

If you do put out blocks for livestock or other domesticated animals, place them inside an electrified pasture.

While it may seem counterintuitive, wildlife repellents can attract bears because of their smells. Avoid using deer, rabbit, or other wildlife repellent products that can be sprayed on plants or scattered on the ground. Consider using fencing, including electric fencing, or scare devices to deter wildlife instead.

Store chemicals in a secure place where bears cannot access them. Be sure to follow proper storage guidelines on the product’s packaging.

For fertilizers, fish fertilizer, blood meal, and other types of fertilizer may be more attractive to bears than others. Consider avoiding these varieties or add electric fencing around areas where they are used.

Although they’re not food, the smell of gasoline, kerosene, diesel, lubricants, propane and other petroleum products can attract bears. Store these items in a secure place where bears cannot access them. Be sure to follow proper storage guidelines, as these products may be a fire risk.

Store paint, stain, and varnishes in a secure place where bears cannot access them. Be sure to follow proper storage guidelines on the product packaging, as these products may be a fire risk.

Bears have been known to take bites out of hot tub covers. Insulation made with formaldehyde gives off formic acid as it breaks down. Bears are naturally drawn to the smell of formic acid from ant colonies and will bite into the insulation in hot tub covers, refrigerators, bicycle or snowmobile seats, and other padded or insulated items looking for ants.

To avoid damage, store equipment (or just the seats, if they are removable) in a locked, hard-sided building. If possible, look for alternative products that don’t contain formaldehyde (which is often in the styrofoam, or less often, the glue). For hot tubs, look for aluminum covers.

You can also try to counteract the formic acid by sprinkling garden lime or another alkali over the item, then covering it with a tarp.

Vehicles themselves aren’t necessarily an attractant, but bears will get in them to investigate smells. Don’t leave trash, groceries, animal feed, coolers, or any odorous item in your vehicle or in the back of a pick-up truck. Lock vehicle doors.

The same goes for doors and windows to houses and outbuildings. Unlocked doors and windows themselves aren’t an attractant, but they lead to spaces that contain a lot of smells–from kitchen pantries to stored chemicals in a garage–and bears will let themselves in to investigate. Keep doors and windows locked when you’re away. If bears are persistent, consider adding unwelcome mats outside entrances. If doors are left unlocked, switch out lever handles for round knobs.

Porches—even screened in porches—aren’t a secure place either, even if they’re on an upper level of your house. Bears are good climbers and can access attractants stored on porches.