Bear breaks bird feeder
ALPENA, Mich.– An Alpena resident, who has requested anonymity, woke up Friday morning to a broken bird feeder. When they checked the feed of their porch camera, they found a black bear had committed grand theft birdseed.
According to Rachel Leightner, an employee of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, bird feeders are surprisingly enticing to bears. Birdseed is tasty, high in calories, and easy to access.
Bears can be drawn to cities by smells they encounter at night as they roam their territory. If a bear roots through your feeder or trash can, you shouldn’t worry too much about it breaking into your home. But unless you take away the food reward, Leightner said you may have a repeat visitor.
“We would really just encourage everyone to take their bird feeders down right now.” Leightner said, “And even if the bird feeder is up pretty high, bird seed can still fall to the ground. And even bird seed being on the ground can still be found by these bears. So that’ll be enough for these bears to want to return.”
If you’ve received a bear visit, but can’t take your feeders down long–term, leightner suggests taking them down for two weeks.
The bear will learn there’s no food to be found after a few nights and look elsewhere.
