Black bear damages to beehives were investigated on 1608 complaints in 42,000 km² of the Peace River region of Alberta during 1972-79. During 5 years (1973-77) of intensive study calculated annual...
Description
Black bear damages to beehives were investigated on 1608 complaints in 42,000 km² of the Peace River region of Alberta during 1972-79. During 5 years (1973-77) of intensive study calculated annual loss, representing most (""2/3) damages, ranged from 47 to 133 thousand dollars. During 1972-79 818 bears were removed from beeyards in the area by governmental leg-snaring or culvert-trapping; most were shot. Most bears were male (70%) and young (44% of 555 were 2 or 3 yrs of age). While electric fences effectively prevented damages (44 penetrations on 237 bear visits or 19%), taste-aversive conditioning did not. Seven of 15 bears translocated committed secondary damages during the same or the following 2 years. Six of 12 bears electroshocked committed secondary damages. Following experimentation in 1973, about 650 electric fences were constructed around beeyards through a government-beekeeper cost-shared program. Management of the bearbeeyard conflict should include encouragement of...