A message from our bear-Can guru, Brian Laissle …

[for our original cans] We were able to get two grants from the state for these bear (resistant) proof cans. We Applied for the grants and they were approved. We certainly did not get them fully paid for and it was an experiment to see if they reduced the bear activity in our area. As we can see from recent events, they are not bear proof to a very large, hungry, determined bear that is trying to put on the weight before winter. We have had more damage to our cans caused by Waste Pro than the bear’s themselves.

For the Most Part, I think people agree it has been effective to reduce our bear problem. It’s not perfect. I think most of Seminole county west of Markham Woods Road has bought the cans for their neighborhoods. . Remember we are living within 50 miles of thousands of bears. We are on the tip of bear country.

I think this time of year when the bears are bulking up for the winter we should all take the following steps to reduce bear activity.

1. Do not leave Food waste inside of the bear proof cans until you put them out for the pickup on Tuesday and Friday. I store the food waste in my garage until then, in plastic bags. Pickup is usually late, lately. Most people keep the cans outside and the bears usually leave them alone, because they learn quickly they cannot be opened easily.

2. Only put your food waste in these cans in smaller kitchen size bags because waste pro can just grab these bags out of the can and NOT DAMAGE OUR EXPENSIVE CANS By using the trucks LIFT MACHINE. Which damages our cans. If you make the can very heavy then they are forced to use the time consuming and damaging LIFT Machine on the truck.

3. Again, please don’t feed the bears. It defeats our efforts. They are wild animals that unfortunately can kill us or our children. We are lucky they (black bears) don’t normally attack humans. I have had two incidences where I have been within three feet from a 400 lb bear. There is nothing more frightening, because this bear may believe I am threatening her or her cubs. I was very lucky.