Reports of Nuisance Bear in Round Lakes area
One outcome of this unusually warm winter is that some bears have come out of their dens much earlier than normal. Jim Kron called today to report that a nuisance bear has been active in the Peninsula Road area near Kron’s house. Last week Jim’s bird feeders were knocked down by a bear and since then he has found multiple occasions where trash has been scattered across his driveway, as well as neighbors’ properties. One property owner had evidence of a bear tearing down lattice fencing to get under his deck. Several other property owners have had bears come onto their decks to reach their bird feeders. Jim called the UW Department of Agriculture in Rhinelander to report the bear sightings and activities. The USDA agent agreed with Jim that the presence of bears is likely related to our warm weather this winter and stated that USDA policy is to wait to remove any bears until “den season” is over and they can determine if the bear has left the area or stopped the nuisance behaviors. This will be in about 4-6 weeks. This policy might be amended if a bear comes closer to any humans, but we would like to avoid that scenario.
RLPOA recommends that you remove bird feeders and handle trash in a way that does not attract bears.
This could include using the landfill, taking trash home or keeping trash in your garage until it is picked up. It is possible that there could be more than one bear active in the Round Lakes area. Please pass this information on to your neighbors