City's Residents Growl over Bears

With spring, the bears are coming out of their dens in Anchorage, Alaska, and residents are not so glad to see them. Last year there were three maulings.

In fact, bears don't want to tangle with humans, scientists say, and maulings are rare. They do learn to sift human trash and are indeed not too proud to swipe the contents of a pic-a-nic basket.

Dumpster diving is bad for bears, though. Bears that spend more time near cities gain more weight, get pregnant at a younger age and die young, violent deaths, a study last year found. Previous studies by have shown that black bears with access to human leftovers will readily become "couch potatoes" that neglect foraging for their natural foods, which include grasses, berries and pine nuts.

Meanwhile, bear encounters out West are increasing as humans continue to move into bear territory more and more, a study in 2006 found.

As you can imagine, the problem in Alaska will not easily be solved. Anchorage's 285,000 residents share space with dozens of brown bears and some 250 black bears, AP reports. And the city abuts a half-million acre park that wildlife officials call a "bear factory."

Bears should indeed be feared. When bears come out of hibernation, they are hungry. But they're not weak. A study in 2007 found that black bears have just as much muscle mass when they emerge from hibernation as they did when they tucked themselves in for winter.

So what do you do if attacked? Don't run, the National Park Service advises. Bears are faster than Olympic sprinters, and apparently they like a good chase. Instead, slowly back away. And despite what you might have heard, bears can climb trees.