Opinion: Reinforce doors, windows to keep bears out
By Dan Sheehan
Lake Tahoe is certainly a beautiful area with its magnificent alpine lake like no other. The Lake Tahoe Basin also has some great wildlife. The black bear or Ursus americanus is a longtime indigenous resident of the area and has become a controversial topic of debate around the lake.
There is plenty of food in the wild for the bears; and many bears eat nothing but wild food. However, some of those bears whose territory borders (and encases) the human neighborhoods are the ones of discussion. These bears have been lured in over the years by tourists and residents who are careless and uneducated about wildlife. Garbage left unsecured or doors and windows left open with food wafting about has been the enticing draw.
Once a bear has learned that the big boxes in the middle of the woods (we call them houses) are a place where food is available, it is pretty tough to stop them from getting in. Momma bear may smell the food and teaches baby bear that this is where we can forage. So this baby bear grows up learning to break into homes regardless if it has the smell of food or not.
It is our responsibility to try and reverse this trend that we are primarily responsible for. Educating ourselves and others about these awesome animals is paramount. The BEAR League is a nonprofit whose sole purpose is to educate and help people live alongside bears. They do so through constant education and intervention.
I have been in the Tahoe area for the past 19 years full time and on and off for the past 46 years and have seen and encountered many bears in the wild and in the home. As a master carpenter I have been called to fix many doors over the years due to bears seeking entry into the home. I am pretty good at rebuilding a door jam to be extremely strong. However, a 600-pound bear leaning on most any door is going to reveal the door’s weakness sooner or later.
And now the local Ursus has become very proficient in breaking windows as well.
So this has led me and others to modify typical electric fencing components as seen on the farm or ranch to work on a home. For the past three years I have been installing these systems and found that they are the absolute most effective solution to deterring bears from getting inside.
The systems pulse about 10,000 volts through the wires. For comparison, a police taser is about 50,000 volts. The amperage is very low (less than one-tenth of an amp). It is amps which kill. Because the charge is pulsing it allows for the muscle reaction of retraction from the fence. If it were not pulsing and you were to grab your muscles, would contract and not allow you to retract. It is this pulsing which also makes it next to impossible for the fence to be a fire hazard. It is also important to note that the electric fence system is safe to the bears, children, pets and other small animals.
This is what a typical door installation looks like:
The green box is the control or energizer that supplies the power to the system and creates the “pulse.” The springs across the door have a handle on one side which can be ‘unhooked” The springs then simply retract and rest out of the way to the other side.
This is a typical window set-up:
We use a polypropylene twine that is very strong and has nine stainless steel strands braided through it that carry the electrical current.
Tahoe Electric Bear Fencing makes sure that the fences we install are effective first and foremost. Our systems are the absolute least obtrusive of anything on the market. More important, our systems are configured so they are not only extremely easy to use but can always be used with minimal effort while you are inside. Other systems either do not allow you to enable the system while you are home or if they do it is burdensome.
Because our systems are the least obtrusive of all the systems, we highly discourage a “removable” system. Please do not be sold by the idea of a removable system. Once you start removing the wires you become less inclined to replace them when you leave the house to go out to lunch or take the dog for a walk. Our systems are always on the house and are extremely simple to engage at all times.
If you have a bear emergency or questions please call the BEAR League at (530) 525.7297.
For inquiries about electric fencing for your home or securing your home call Tahoe Electric Bear Fencing (DS Construction) at (530) 448.9127.
Dan Sheehan is the owner of DS Construction and Tahoe Electric Bear Fencing. He is also a volunteer with the BEAR League and Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. Sheehan has been trained in the handling of wild birds and animals.
I wish the Real Estate Association and local RE agents would provide all new residents with an informational brochure on how to live in bear country. They could provide a brochure with the house-key. I have seen new neighbors put out garbage cans with lids not afixed or missing. Recently I mentioned to a neighbor up the street that I had seen a bear going thru her garbage the other day because there were no lids on the cans — and her response was “I just forgot”. Totally irresponsible!
Bouquets to “Clean Tahoe” who often cleans up bear trash and provides info to those folks who need reminding about their responsibility to secure their garbage.
Recently, a visitor left a black garbage bag by a dumpster, with half eaten ribs, 1/3 jar of peanut butter and other goodies inside. Hello!!! The next day, our local bear hit that bag and every other trash can on the street. All owners who rent out should have a bear proof container on site.
Sounds like a owner managed vacation rental where they are cutting corners. The vacation rental next to me is through a local property management company. They pick up the garbage the day the renter leaves.
The only nearby garbage problem which attracts bears is from long term (monthly) renters, not homeowners or vacation rentals.
Dan Sheehan, I think your onto something good with The Electric Bear Fencing. Bear behavior has changed alot over the years. They are no longer afraid of humans , dogs or just about anything. I encourage my neighbors to keep there trash indoors untill their pick up day but if the bear wants to get that garbage in your garage or house, it will, which results in major damage to your house and a big mess to clean up.
Thanks for being proactive on living with bears.
I’ll be sending businees your way. Old Long Skiis
Responsible rental agencies do leave BEAR League information – but many people are lazy or don’t care (?) in spite of having proper information. Renters near us left garbage bags full of ribs just inside the garage door… instead of in the bear bin 10′ away.
It’s ignorance and laziness and also an attitude of entitlement to do what one wants because they’re paying for the priviledge of being here, and to heck with the critters.
Besides using bearproof garbage bins and securing food in a way that keeps the odors from attracting bears, we also make sure all our 1st floor windows and doors are covered (shades, drapes, blinds) and secured any time we leave the house. We do this even if we’re just going for a stroll or a visit next door. Bears know what refrigerators and coolers and other food containers look like, so if they see them through the window, they’ll go in after them.
I imagine some folks will balk at the idea of shocking bears with electric fences. I don’t know about everyone else, but our insurance doesn’t cover bear damage to the house, so a little “ouch” to keep the bear moving sounds like a good idea.
Any deterrent that doesn’t harm the animal is a good thing! After all, “A fed bear is a dead bear.” As soon as a bear learns to get food from humans, it is doomed. Eventually it will become a “problem” (of our making) and in California, it will then be trapped and put down.
A wild bear is a beautiful creature to observe from a healthy distance. Let’s all help to keep them wild.
In the 70’s in Incline, our tin trash cans sat on old tires with an Electric fence unit wired to them.
I saw them nail a couple dogs, a Raccoon. Never saw a bear get it but they are pretty stealthy. Never had the trash get dragged around the yard. And back then Bears where generally shot if they showed up in a populated area. Not saying that’s good or bad. It is just how it was, there were bears but we never really saw them.
now a days, gapers should be generally shot if they show up in a populated area.
We can teach the habitual visiting bears to be scared of humans again without actually hurting them. Mammoth has a solution that has worked for years.
http://www.thebearwhisperer.com/about-steve.html
jw7, thanks for the link to the bearwhisperer, very cool indeed. Last summer the bears on my street weren’t going away when I made noise, shouting and clapping my hands. Instead the bear would follow the noise and walk right up to me. Cool, but a little scary, being 10 feet away from a large bear.
I bought a slingshot this year and gathered up some rocks should we have another bear in one of the the neighbors trash cans.
Please don’t shoot, trap or harm the bears! Thats one of the reasons we live amongst the pines, the lake and co -exist with all the wildlife. Lets protect what we have and enjoy it, not destroy it !!!!
Take care , Old Long Skiis