Bears can learn to tolerate people even though their natural behaviour pattern is to be wary of them. They learn this tolerance after they have repeated contact with people without having negative experiences. This tolerance of people is often referred to as human habituation. Human-bear conflicts can arise when the animal learns to associate people with food. This level of habituation is called human-food conditioning. A food- conditioned animal actively searches for food (usually garbage or other attractants) in areas frequented by people. If the bear has no negative experiences associated with that behaviour, it may continue to search for food near humans as long as the animal receives the positive reward of food.
careless human activities can result in the death of bears
- always report a bear incident
The majority of human-bear conflicts that arise involve an animal that exhibits both types of behaviour. The bear is not only human-habituated, it is human-food conditioned.
