Roaring Fork Valley Bear Coalition

11/04/2026

10/29/2026

Guard your Halloween candy and pumpkins! 🎃

Halloween is right in the middle of hyperphagia. Bears are busy packing on pre-hibernation pounds, searching for food up to 20 hours a day and although pumpkins and candy are packed with high calories, chocolate contains theobromine which is toxic to bears and can cause serious illness and heart failure.

If you leave candy or real pumpkins out, a bear will treat itself to the entire bowl and come back later looking for more. So it's important to keep your candy bowl and real pumpkins INSIDE.

DON'T LEAVE CANDY OUT UNATTENDED for trick-or-treaters and be sure to USE ONLY ARTIFICIAL PUMPKINS for outdoor decoration.

Remember, feeding bears includes “unintentional” feeding such as allowing bears to get into trash, bird feeders, barbecue grills, pet food and even pumpkins. A fed bear is a dead bear.

Thanks for planning ahead for a BearWise Halloween!

https://bearwise.org/six-bearwise-basics/never-feed-or-approach-bears/

10/24/2026

Don't let hungry bears trick or treat at your home🎃🐻👻

With Halloween right around the corner, it’s time to be extra BearWise. Well, it’s always time to be BearWise, but pay particular attention to those pumpkins and candy or food that might be left outside during this time of year. Bears are busy packing on pre-hibernation pounds, searching for food up to 20 hours a day. And pumpkins are a real treat for bears. They’re packed with vitamins, minerals and tasty fiber. Pumpkin seeds have 300 calories a cup! Candy is loaded with high-energy sugar and calories. Chocolate is a real killer. It contains theobromine, which is toxic to bears and can cause serious illness and heart failure.

Bears are not polite, and don’t believe in sharing. A bear will treat itself to the entire bowl…and those real pumpkins you thought were fall décor. And come back later looking for more. That’s why it’s so important to never feed or approach bears. Keep your candy and real pumpkins inside. Won’t be home? Ask someone who loves Halloween to lend a hand. Or hire a teenager who’s too old to trick or treat to hand out your goodies.

Thanks for planning ahead for a BearWise Halloween!

Visit our website to read BearWise Basics #1: Never Feed or Approach Bears. There are 6 At Home BearWise Basics - get them all on our website.

10/20/2026

From California to Connecticut, desperate bears have raided garbage cans, broken into homes and cars, torn through chicken coops and pulled down birdfeeders. Wildlife officers in many states have received a record number of calls, working overtime through the summer to deter bears, put out traps and euthanize animals who pose persistent problems.

“I’ve had officers who have had to work three weeks in a row, working 18-hour days, day after day,” said John Livingston, public information officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “We have been worried about the mental health of some of our officers who are dealing with these issues. Some of them are having to euthanize a lot of bears this year. Nobody gets into this line of work because they want to put down animals.”

Please read full article⬇️

Bears are having a very bad year. Across much of the United States, a warm winter and persistent drought have decimated the natural foods black and brown bears rely on. Wildlife officers in many states have received a record number of calls, working overtime to deter bears, put out traps and euthani...