While many residential areas require bear-resistant trash cans, commercial trash containers can still present a problem.<\/span> (Photo: CPW)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThat\u2019s largely due to two factors, he said: food scarcity and habituation. Livingston pointed to the record-low snowpack that caused drought across the state and an early spring freeze in May that decimated natural food supplies in the southwest. That drove bears down into the towns early in the season. Now, Livingston said, they\u2019re habituated to that food source.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as they are getting trash and human-provided food like bird seed, pet food, or whatever gets left outside, they don\u2019t have the incentive to go back up and look for those natural foods,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That creates a dangerous situation for these ursines. It\u2019s much easier to make a fatal mistake, like breaking into homes or cars, or eating garbage that they can\u2019t digest, when neighborhoods represent their main source of food. It can even mess with their biology.<\/p>\n
\u201cBears that get human-provided foods will continue to stay up looking to eat as much as they can for as long as they can,\u201d Livingston explained. It isn\u2019t cold weather that drives them into hibernation; it\u2019s a lack of food. \u201cIn some places, there have been instances of a few bears never denning because they continued to access food year-round.\u201d<\/p>\n(Photo: John Livingston\/CPW)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Year to Exercise Higher Caution<\/h2>\n As winter draws nearer, CPW is asking residents across Colorado to exercise greater caution. Many towns and neighborhoods require bear-resistant trash containers, but Livingston pointed out that they do no good if they aren\u2019t regularly cleaned, as bears will still be drawn to their scent. If they get broken, owners need to fix them and make sure they\u2019re secured every night. Failing to do so could result in a $100 fine for the first offense and a $200 fine for subsequent offenses.<\/p>\n
He also said that leaving windows or doors open, or your car unlocked at night, is asking for trouble.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may not be a person you have to worry about coming into your house or trying to get into your car at night,\u201d he says. \u201cIt might be a bear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, he says, don\u2019t be afraid to haze black bears who wander near your home. Livingston suggests yelling at them, sounding your car alarm, banging pots and pans, or using an airhorn.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to take the time to take out your phone and record the bear, help send the right message and record it while you\u2019re yelling,\u201d Livingston said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t want them being around our homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there is any year to exercise greater bear caution, he says, it\u2019s this one. The bears need our help.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A necropsy revealed whole plastic garbage bags and non-flushable wipes inside the 300-pound animal. As drought and late freezes wipe out natural food sources, officials warn that frontcountry garbage management is becoming a matter of life and death. Unsecured garbage cans are a liability for both bears and humans. (Photo: CPW) Published September 12, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}