An Application of Behavioral Technology to the Problem of Nuisance Bears

Abstract

An appropriate and effective means of repelling nuisance bears is currently not available to recreation area personnel. Those methods which have been employed with limited success in other settings would be disruptive to campground and picnic area users.

By applying long-established behavioral technology which is used extensively by other disciplines, new methods can readily be developed to coerce a bear to leave an area where it is not wanted. This case study demonstrates that a nuisance bear can be trained by classical conditioning procedures to associate an unobtrusive, ultrasonic tone with the aversive sound of a loud horn. This learned association was accomplished by repeated presentation of both stimuli to the animal while confined in a culvert trap.

A postconditioning test demonstrated that the previously neutral sound, inaudible to humans, was capable of immediately prompting the bear to leave a well-baited campsite. The bear’s behavior further indicated that the conditioned stimulus did not elicit the startle, fear, or flight responses which normally would result from direct use of the horn. Only the accompanying autonomic responses became conditioned to the ultrasonic tone; apparently overt behaviors were thwarted by confinement in the trap, precluding their being conditioned as well. Nevertheless, the uncomfortable or disturbing autonomic responses were triggered by presentation of the ultrasonic tone, presumably causing the bear to feel ill at ease in the situation and to leave in a deliberate, determined manner.

This example of stimulus control of a bear’s behavior illustrates the pragmatic potential of behavioral technology in the management of nuisance bears and lays the groundwork for further exploration of this potential.

Current continuation of this research employs the sight and sound of humans as conditioned stimuli; this direct approach attempts to restore a nuisance bear’s “natural fear of humans.”