Thetford
“My wife saw the mother pawing at the door to our chicken house,” Wiencke said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “The chickens were spooked and three ran out, and she got them.”
Whipple fired off a few gunshots to scare away the bear and her cubs, a temporary solution to a long-term problem. The bears returned a few hours later, Wiencke said. Fortunately, he and his wife, Chris Neely-Jones, already had moved the remaining chickens into the garage of their Tucker Hill Road home.
The next day, Wiencke said, he heard reports that the same bear had broken into other Thetford chicken coops, including one near Sawnee Bean Road, killing 11 chickens.
Wiencke said he is in the process of getting the chicken coop fixed, and will install an electric fence.
“(Whipple) said the only way to keep bears away is an electric fence,” he said. “It doesn’t really hurt the bear, it just gives them a shock, and they generally won’t come back.”
Thetford residents aren’t the only ones dealing with bears roaming around their neighborhoods.
Several Enfield residents recently have posted on the listserv about bear sightings, specifically a mother bear and multiple cubs wandering in the Shaker Hill Road area.
Norwich and Claremont residents also have reported bear sightings.
Over the past couple of days, West Lebanon resident Bryan Marquard said, he and his wife have seen a mother bear and three cubs, as well as a fourth bear traveling alone, pass through their yard on Gilson Road off Route 10, near the Hanover town line.
Each year, he said, several bears pass through; they rarely stop, though.
“After it became clear that we are on a path that the bears take … we never put up a bird feeder,” said Marquard, a Boston Globe reporter. “Experts think the mother bear’s den may not be far into the woods from where we live. They think there is a food source that they go to that makes them pass through our yard.”
New Hampshire Fish and Game bear biologist Andrew Timmins said scarce food sources this season coupled with an unseasonably warm winter, which prompted bears to leave their dens early, have led to an increase in bear activity and sightings over the past few months.
Residents who have failed to secure garbage receptacles and put away bird feeders also are responsible for the uptick in roaming bears.
“There is a real need for people to deal with attractants around their house,” Timmins said.
Although there has been an increase in the frequency of sightings this season, Timmins said, that also could be a false perception.
He said bear-human conflict last season was at an all-time low; his department received roughly 300 complaints last year, compared to a usual average of 600.
Because there were so few interactions last season, he said, this season may be giving off the appearance there are more bears out there.
The 2016 season could pan out to be an average year for bear sightings, but it is too soon to tell, Timmins said.
Regardless, he said, education is the primary way to prevent unwanted encounters. If there are no food sources in a home’s yard, bears likely will remain in heavily wooded areas, he said.
“If you don’t have those attractants, you aren’t going to see bears in your yard,” Timmins said, “it’s that simple.”
Lyme resident Ben Kilham, an expert who studies bear activity, agreed with Timmins, saying the biggest factor in increased bear sightings is food attractants, including livestock. He said residents with chicken coops, for example, should set up electric fences.
“The bears don’t come out of the forest unless there is something to come out for,” he said. “If that were all done in advance, we wouldn’t be seeing bears.
“Bears move to where the food it,” he added. “None of this is rocket science.”
In order to reduce bear signings, New Hampshire Fish and Game officials recommend Twin State residents take the following steps:
Stop all bird feedings at the onset of spring-like weather.
Clean up spilled birdseed.
Secure all garage in airtight containers; put garbage out in the morning instead of at night; purchase locking lids for dumpsters.
Avoid putting food scraps in compost piles.
Bring outdoor pet food dishes inside.
Clean and store outdoor grills after use.
Never feed bears.
“These steps will help to ensure that your backyard does not become attractive to bears and other wildlife,” Timmins wrote in a March news release urging residents to take down bird feeders prior to April 1, the recommended date to secure them.
For more information, residents can visit www.vtfishandwildlife.com or http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us.
Twin State residents experiencing problems related to bears should call 1-888-SHY-BEAR, a hotline set up in connection with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.