"Problem bears."
That's what people call bears that get into garbage. As Anchorage's wildlife manager I worked with bears and people for 16 years. The real problem wasn't unraveling the nature of bears; it was in understanding human nature.
Anchorage dumps an estimated 127 tons of edible garbage every day. Anchorage residents often store garbage outside in plastic bags or flimsy plastic containers. As many as one-third of households in many neighborhoods heap garbage on the curb the night before collection day, giving bears all night to sift through it.
Leaving garbage in view of a city street on any day other than collection day is a violation of municipal code.
The crux of a bear's nature is to gain access to nutritious food. Our garbage is often more nutritious – in terms of sugar, fat and protein content – than anything found in the woods. How can anyone blame the bears? Do we blame gulls waiting impatiently for a gob of fish guts at cleaning stations in Seward's harbor? Do we blame ravens for eating fries spilled in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant or chickadees for taking sunflower seeds from a squirrel feeder?
One of the linchpins of human nature – touted by philosophers since Aristotle – is our rationality. But when it comes to garbage and garbage management, humans are a lot less rational than bears.
Case in point: the Government Hill bears
By now most of us know the tale of the sow with four cubs who had raided Government Hill garbage for two years. After her nearly grown cubs posed an increased risk to neighborhood residents and rubberneckers, Gov. Bill Walker and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game concocted a scheme to relocate the bears because that's what the public wanted.
Plenty of research has demonstrated that relocated bears often return or get into garbage someplace else. But, you know, we keep trying to change the bears' behavior and letting people, the rational ones, off the hook.
The five Government Hill bears were flown to Chickaloon Flats, on the north shore of the Kenai Peninsula, which cost the state well over $10,000. To Fish and Game's credit, it's not easy to get back to Anchorage from Chickaloon Flats. So the sow chose Plan B and led her cubs east to the community of Hope. Later, they were spotted as far west as Nikiski.
Sean Farley, a Fish and Game bear expert, has been monitoring the five bears ever since. Although the bears have strolled through downtown Hope and approached numerous cabins, he told me he's unaware of any garbage-related incidents. Residents appear to be doing a remarkable job.
Scratch that. The day after I talked to Farley, it appeared as if one of the relocated bears killed as many as 10 chickens in Hope. Now all five bears are rummaging through trash cans and breaking into tents for food in the vicinity.
Moving a family of five urban-savvy bears a month before the cubs were old enough to disperse was tantamount to tossing a bear grenade onto the Kenai Peninsula. As the young disperse, they're likely to find other roadside attractions.
Meanwhile, back in Anchorage
Anchorage residents aren't nearly as conscientious as Kenai residents. For two summers the Government Hill bears were in the news, as they say. It's unlikely that anyone living in the neighborhood didn't know a herd of five bears was raiding local garbage cans.
Some residents got it. They changed their behavior. They figured out a way to keep the bears out of their trash, even if it occasioned some inconvenience. But if 1 in 100, or even 1 in 10, households figure it out, that doesn't solve the problem.
Debbie Jacobson knows exactly what I'm talking about. Jacobson is the sole code enforcement officer with Solid Waste Services, the municipal agency that collects trash in Government Hill, Mountain View, downtown, as far south as Tudor Road and as far east as Patterson Street. It's a large area with approximately 13,000 households.
One of Jacobson's primary duties is enforcing the law that requires homeowners to stash their trash out of sight. Of course, being out of sight is no guarantee that it's out of a bear's reach. But it's a start. At least the garbage isn't arrayed like the main course at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and some people will store it securely in a garage or shed.
A week or so after the Government Hill bears were relocated, Jacobson posted notices of violation – essentially warning tickets – on approximately 80 Government Hill homes for storing garbage-filled trash containers in alleys several days after collection. The tipper carts were lined up in clear view of the street like the bubbling vats of a soup kitchen.
She revisited the homes several days later, writing more notices of violation and citing three households whose containers were tipped over and their contents strewn about, most likely by another bear.
Each citation dinged the homeowner for $370.
Because her job requires it, Jacobson is also a student of human nature. She says bears have been an issue in Government Hill ever since she started patrolling the area. In her words, the residents "just don't care."
Or, in the classic quote by "Pogo" cartoonist Walt Kelly, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Mountain View passes the garbage IQ test
Human nature. You have to make it worth their while. Either keeping one's garbage away from bears has to be incredibly easy, or allowing bears access to one's garbage has to be very painful.
Lots of Anchorage residents don't have a garage to store garbage in. But that's no excuse for throwing up one's hands and letting the bears take it. I've told thousands of Anchorage residents who are unwilling or unable to store garbage in a garage that a 55-gallon steel drum with a locking lid is a cheap and effective alternative. It shouldn't cost more than $100 per container, and group discounts are possible. Yet I'd be mildly surprised if five people had enough initiative to purchase one.
Perhaps neighborhood associations, conservation groups or community service organizations could provide steel drums with locking lids to homeowners in neighborhoods frequented by bears. Heck, the $10,000 the state spent to move the last five bears would have bought truckloads of steel drums.
But I'm fairly certain that human nature would torpedo that fairly simple solution. If there's no will, there's no way. People wouldn't lock down the lids. Or they'd fill the drum and pile other trash bags up against it. I know this because people who use dumpsters – both residential and commercial – often don't close the lids.
There may be one simple and reasonably effective way to maneuver homeowners in Government Hill into locking up their garbage containers. Several years ago, Jacobson says, the community convinced Solid Waste Services to pick up trash containers in the alleys behind their homes. Now, unfortunately, residents are more likely to leave trash containers out. The same week that Jacobson issued approximately 80 notices of violation in Government Hill she found no violations in nearby Mountain View, a much larger neighborhood, where trash containers are placed on the curb for pickup, not in alleys.
Simply reversing Solid Waste Service's policy in Government Hill and requiring trash to be rolled out to the curb the day of pickup would attract fewer bears.
Painful solutions
A more permanent and effective solution is going to be a little painful. Alaska Waste, the private company that collects most of Anchorage's trash, has offered bear-resistant trash containers for years. Because these require someone to get out of the garbage truck and unlatch the container, Alaska Waste charges clients a few extra dollars a month during the summer, when bears are active.
Solid Waste Services has been unwilling to use bear-resistant containers because they cannot be opened automatically from the cab of the garbage truck. According to director Paul Alcantar, outgoing mayor Dan Sullivan refused to spend more on upgrading the municipality's trash service.
Paying someone to ride along and open bear-resistant containers before they can be emptied would cost extra. But that solution need not be as expensive as Alcantar fears. One reason he gave for not hiring extra staff is that, by his count, fewer than 200 of his customers would require bear-resistant containers and most live in Government Hill. But wouldn't that mean Solid Waste Services might only require one additional trash collector for Government Hill, not one on every route?
A complicating factor is that no one seems to have designed an all-purpose trash container that is both bear resistant and capable of being emptied automatically.
Alcantar hasn't given up hope of finding a bear-resistant trash container that will work with his trucks. In the meantime, he plans to provide dumpsters for residents in Government Hill, to offset the unavailability of bear-resistant trash containers. But dumpsters will work only if everyone closes the lids. Take it from someone who has studied bears and people for decades: It'll never happen.
The best way to ensure that bears don't get into garbage is to make people individually responsible and fine them when they fail. Forget putting dumpsters in Government Hill. Drag the trash containers out of the alleys and back on the curb. Don't waste time writing notices of violation, write citations for big fines. When it's feasible, make bear-resistant containers mandatory in problem areas.
And please hire an assistant for Jacobson. She has a lot of problem people to deal with.
Rick Sinnott is a former Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist. Contact him at rickjsinnott@gmail.com
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.