Found this on the Mammoth site. Some good information for folks that are new and those who have lived here for while. Here is a link to Steve Searles website which also has some good information.
http://www.thebearwhisperer.com/Truth About Bears
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Black Bears: Facts, Myths and Advice from Steve Searles, Animal Planet's "Bear Whisperer"
One of the Country's Top Experts Shares His Advice On What You Should Do During a Bear Encounter While Hiking, Fishing, Mountain Biking-or Sitting on the Steps of Your Vacation Home Mammoth Lakes, Calif. (March 15, 2011)-Steve Searles knows black bears. The star of Animal Planet's show "The Bear Whisperer," he reduced the population of problem animals in half working for the Mammoth Lakes police department, chasing the creatures away using humane tactics such as firecrackers, air horns and flares. Searles' mission is an important one. With more people hitting the hiking trails, fishing mountain streams, or vacationing in the mountains, and with wildlife showing up closer and closer to civilization, black bear encounters in the Sierra Nevada and nearby areas are becoming increasingly more common.
"There's more misinformation about black bears than accurate information," Searles says. With this in mind, Searles has some myths he'd like to dispel, some facts he'd like to share and some advice for people who encounter these animals in the wild or on the steps of their homes.
Five Black Bear Myths Dispelled
1. Black bears are primarily vegetarians. Ninety-seven percent of their diet is seeds, berries and other vegetarian items. "Carrion, road kill, things like that are luxury items," Searles says. "When bears rummage through human food, they're looking for rotting cabbage or lettuce. If they find a pizza crust or a piece of meat will they take advantage of it? Yes, but they're primarily grass eaters. In fact, the methamphetamine of a bear's life is bird seed."
2. They're predominately gentle creatures who are genetically programmed to run from humans.People are 350 times more likely to be struck directly on the head by a bolt of lightning than to be attacked by a black bear, Searles points out.It's more dangerous to be walking down a city street than to experience an encounter with one of these animals. In the rare situation when a bear has gone after a human, Searles calls it the "Jeffrey Dahmer of the bear world."
3. Mothers will not do anything to protect their cubs. "People base that belief on their own experience with their own kids," Searles says. In reality, biologists have entered dens and taken the cubs away from the mothers-and walked out alive. Fifty-one percent of all black bears die before they're 18 months old.
4. They don't eat dogs. "All dogs bark at bears. And all bears run from dogs," Searles says. "If I had a penny for every poodle or Chihuahua that chased a bear I'd be rich. Bears are vegetarians-they don't make a living on dogs and cats."
Five Facts
1. There are no grizzlies or brown bears in the Sierra Nevada. Only black bears live here. The confusion arises because the color of black bears' fur can be cinnamon, red, blonde, or chocolate.
2. They can eat 40,000 calories per day, which is why Searles calls them "a stomach with four feet."
3. During winter hibernation, they can go up to 6 months without urinating, defecating or eating. And when they emerge from their dens in the spring, they have no muscular atrophy.
4. California is now home to approximately 30,000 black bears, making the state's 28,000 square miles of mountainous habitat quite crowded. "Every square mile is now filled, which is why we don't relocate bears," Searles says.
5. They have keen noses and can smell food cooking three to four miles away.
Five Tips for Bear Encounters
1. Don't approach the animal, but don't run away, either. Enjoy the experience. If you don't have any food out, admire the animal from afar with binoculars or the zoom feature on a digital camera. "A lot of the information out there says grab your kids and put them up on your shoulder. But this automatically sets an element of fear," Searles says. "Instead, if there's a family of bears walking through your campsite, why not say, 'Come here kids. Stand over here and take a photo.'"
2. Always give the animal plenty of room to escape. Never allow it to feel trapped. If it's in your vacation home, open doors and windows so that it has a way out.
3. During picnics or meals around the campfire, if a bear approaches, stand your ground. Make yourself look bigger by holding your hands above your head, bang pots together and yell at the animal. Laments Searles, "If everyone did that I wouldn't have a job. Bears are the best at reading body language and vocalization."People who film the animal as it's eating their food are giving it a death sentence, since this trains it to eat human food. Ultimately, it will need to be killed.
4. Take all food and food wrappers out of the car and bring the dog and cat food inside.
5. Vacation homeowners in the mountains who like to feed the birds can consider setting out a birdbath instead. Or, put out seed only in the winter when the bears are hibernating or less active.
