Bear Country! -- proclaim signs on trailhead and campground kiosks throughout the White Mountains and many other places around the Southwest. These signs and the instructions about bear proofing camp sites need to be taken seriously, especially when doing dispersed camping and when developed campgrounds are closed. On most of the occasions when I’ve seen bears in the wild, they were a long way off and going in the other direction which is how we want them to respond to people.

One Saturday morning, I was walking downhill toward Porter Creek in Scott Reservoir Recreation Area on a path that parallels Porter Mountain Road when I saw a medium sized animal walking up the trail toward me. At first glance, I thought it was a calf from the herd of cattle I had seen by the creek an hour or so earlier. As the animal and I got closer to each other, I realized it was furry and the wrong shape for a calf. Just then it noticed me. The animal and I stopped on opposite sides of a Juniper bush and looked at each other. It was a black bear! The bear and I stood and looked at each other for several long seconds. Then the bear resumed walking up the trail on its side of the bush as I quietly resumed walking downhill on my side of the bush. I continued home without seeing any other animals. The cattle had gone elsewhere, perhaps to avoid the bear.

The next day, I happened to see Aaron Hartzell, an Arizona Game and Fish employee who was working in Eagar at the time, so I told him about my bear sighting. He already knew about the bear because Game and Fish had received multiple calls about it. The bear had first been reported in upper Pinetop earlier that Saturday morning. Subsequent reports came in as the bear worked its way down through Lakeside by way of Springer Mountain, knocking over garbage cans as it went. That afternoon, Game and Fish personnel had trapped the bear in the vicinity of the taxidermy shop on Porter Mountain Road, only a few hours and within a half mile of where I had seen it. The bear had been relocated.

After telling me what had happened to the bear, Aaron asked for more details about my encounter with it. Where had I seen it? What time? How close had it been to me? How had the bear behaved when it noticed me? He was relieved to learn the bear had simply looked at me and gone on its way but he was troubled by the bear seeming unfazed at being only 15 or 20 feet away from me. Aaron explained this indicated the bear had become habituated to people which is a serious problem because bears that have lost their fear of people are dangerous.

Relocating nuisance bears to more remote areas where they don’t have access to garbage cans is a last-resort method for trying to re-wild habituated bears. Unfortunately, it often fails. It has been documented that relocated bears will travel long distances to return to the territory they have been deported from. If they don’t, some other bear will claim the territory and may become another nuisance bear. Either way, bears that become habituated to people are likely to become such a threat to human safety they have to be killed.

What can we do to keep bears wild? Dispose of food scraps in ways that are inaccessible to bears. Keep garbage, compost and recyclables in bear-proof enclosures. Thoroughly clean outdoor grills immediately after every use. Keep the wild birds wild. Yes, we enjoy watching birds up close but feeders that attract birds also attract bears. Feed pets indoors and keep pet food indoors. Use Fire-wise landscaping. Use safe methods when trying to scare bears away from your house.

Staying calm, facing the bear and allowing it to leave was a safe thing to do in the situation I was in. Thankfully, that bear was not aggressive so I didn’t have to defend myself. There is no denying that seeing a bear that close was a thrill but I prefer to keep the wild life wild and observe wild animals behaving naturally at a safe distance.

© May 12, 2020 Allanna Lea Jackson