Bears are majestic and beautiful creatures, but humans and bears do not always make the best neighbors.
While we all realize that bears are dangerous animals, the truth is that we can sometimes be more harmful to them.
When humans encroach on a bear's habitat there is likely to be much more contact between the two.
Bears, like most animals, are opportunistic hunters.
They will usually choose to eat whichever food source is the easiest to obtain.
Unfortunately, quite often the food that is easiest for them to get is our trash.
There is a lot of danger for any wild animal that gets into the habit of eating garbage.
Bear-proof trash cans can not only spare you a mess to clean up, but can go a long way toward protecting the wild animals around you.
Bears can become reliant on a human source of food.
If this happens they will quit hunting for food on their own, and this can be dangerous for the humans and their pets in area.
Once they become accustomed to eating out of our trash cans, they often have to be relocated or put down altogether.
This is tragic since there are fewer and fewer of these beautiful animals every year.
Since they have an incredible sense of smell, they can detect food from a long distance away.
The smell of rotting garbage is like a dinner bell to these animals.
Aside from the danger to humans, bears that devour trash are also at risk of ingesting dangerous materials.
It is easy for an animal to eat the plastic or glass that has been tossed out with the remnants of dinner.
This can cause the bear great pain, as well as a slow and miserable death.
Bear-proof bins are designed to not only keep the bears out but to keep the smells in.
Bear proof canisters are also designed to withstand the force that a bear may inflict while trying to get to the treasures inside.
These trash cans are also useful because they dissuade the bear from coming back.
Once a bear learns that it cannot get to the food inside, it will go back to its natural hunting and foraging nature.
We owe it to these animals to protect them and ourselves from the dangers that our garbage presents.
Wild animals should not hunt so close to our neighborhoods, and they deserve better than to feed off of hazardous garbage.