VERMONT FISH & WILDLIFE
Press Release
For Immediate Release: July 15, 2014
Media Contact: Col. David LeCours, 802-828-1529; Forrest Hammond, 802-885-8832
Man Charged for Feeding Bears
MONTGOMERY,
Vt. -- A Montgomery Vermont man was charged by the Fish & Wildlife
Department for intentionally feeding bears.
Jeffrey
Messier, 54, of Black Falls Road was charged with feeding bears after
Game Warden Sgt. Carl Wedin received a report of a bear being killed in
self-defense at a
neighboring residence on June 22, 2014. Sgt. Wedin responded and
recovered the bear. Its stomach contained a large number of sunflower
seeds.
The
investigating warden went to Jeffrey Messier’s residence where he
discovered evidence of bear feeding and encountered a bear walking
around the residence. The bear
showed no sign of being afraid of people and walked right up to the
warden. The bear then approached a picnic table where sunflower seeds
were placed. It was obvious to the warden that this bear had been
intentionally fed on several occasions and had lost
its fear of humans.
Further
investigation by Sgt. Wedin revealed that several other bears also came
to the residence often enough to be named and that many of them in
recent years may have
been killed or injured in incidents with other landowners.
According
to the Vermont Fish &Wildlife Department, black bears are found in
most forested portions of Vermont where they rely on wild foods such as
berries, cherries,
beechnuts, apples and acorns to survive. But the department also
points out that bears can easily become attracted to other foods such as
birdseed, garbage and pet food.
“Bears
are normally shy and not aggressive toward humans,” says bear biologist
Forrest Hammond. “However, a bear that has been fed by humans soon
loses its shyness and
can become dangerous, especially to the landowner feeding the bears and
to their neighbors. Often, as in this case, fed bears will seek
similar foods elsewhere, and in the process cause property damage and
scare people not expecting to find bears on their
porches and in their back yards.”
“At
this time we are responding to reports throughout the state of bears
causing damage while attempting to get at chicken feed, bird seed,
stored garbage, and food kept
in screened porches. In most cases this does not end well for the
bears.”
“People
such as Mr. Messier that feed bears often think they are helping them,”
said Hammond, “but in reality such behavior causes problems for other
landowners and often
ends with the death of the bears being fed. When we start receiving
multiple reports of bears causing problems in an area we most often find
that someone is intentionally feeding them.”
The intentional feeding of bears is illegal in Vermont. If convicted Messier faces a fine of up to $1,000 and a one-year
revocation of his hunting, fishing and trapping licenses.