Important things to bear in mind.
I live in a small southern Vermont ski town in the Green Mountain National Forest. In my corner of the world, we have two important populations that, in recent years, have been increasingly coming into contact with one another: tourists and black bears.
The housing stock in my town is vastly populated by second homes, many of which have now become Airbnbs. In 2020, at one such house, an Airbnb guest got a real surprise when she walked into the kitchen to find a black bear and two cubs. The woman ran into the bedroom, hid, and called the police.
I’m a reporter for my town’s weekly newspaper and over time, I’ve become the go-to reporter for odd bear incidents. The Airbnb incident was no different, so I got the scoop from a wildlife official. He told me that the house had a second-floor deck with steps up to it, which the bear had climbed. The door to the kitchen was open and the garbage, although not particularly odorous, had piqued the bear’s curiosity.
The wildlife official also told me that Airbnbs in particular were creating an issue with bears, because new people were in them each week and most of them didn’t arrive with knowledge about how to live alongside bears. Which makes sense. I’ve lived here for about a dozen years, and I can say with full confidence that when I first moved to Vermont, I had no idea how to live with bears. I’d put my garbage out by the curb at dusk and then wake up surprised to find it strewn all over the road. I didn’t grow up anywhere near bears, and I just didn’t know.
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If it’s taken me over a decade of a lot of observing–and some slip-ups–to learn how to effectively live alongside bears, it makes a whole lot of sense that people who are visiting bear country wouldn’t arrive knowing how to successfully live among our ursine neighbors, even if only for a few days. So, consider this your guide—a list of mistakes I’ve made myself or observed. Mistakes you don’t have to make–which means you’ll have much less of a chance of finding a bear in your Airbnb’s kitchen.
Never Leave Food Outside Unattended
Bears love human food, as is well-documented by Yogi The Bear’s love for picnic baskets. Cartoons aside, bears are attracted to human food. Over time, especially in areas where people leave food out more than they should, bears learn how to seek out human food, and they know how to find it fast. A couple of years ago, my husband and daughter returned from a road trip and left a chicken nugget Happy Meal in the car with the windows down. Not 10 minutes had passed before a bear had its head in the car window to get a nugget. When you’re in bear country, never leave human food out in a place where a bear can get to it.
Know What to Do With Your Trash
Bear-proof bins are a thing, but, anecdotally, in my bear-populated town, most people don’t have them. Instead, they keep food rubbish inside until they drive it to the dump themselves or have a garbage collection service pick it up. In the case of the latter, garbage has to be put at the curb as close to pickup time as possible—as in, minutes to an hour before the garbage truck arrives. We absolutely never put our garbage out the night before unless we want to find it strewn all over the road in the morning.
Don’t Leave Doors Open, or Even Ajar
The bear in the Airbnb got in by walking through an open door. In another instance in my town, a bear stole a birthday cake from an entryway where someone had left a screen door ajar. It may be attractive to leave the doors open to get some of that mountain-fresh air inside, but if you’re cooking or have food rubbish around, leaving a door open that a bear can access is a solid thing to avoid.
Don’t Leave the Grill Unattended
There’s nothing that smells quite as good as food cooking on a grill. Grills can attract bears. Don’t leave it unattended while cooking on it, and, perhaps more difficult, don’t leave it unattended after the fact. Clean the grates, cover the grill. Don’t leave anything that might smell good to a bear.
Secure Doors and Windows and Watch From Inside
I’ll be the first to admit that bears can be stunning to observe. If you are safe and indoors, there’s nothing wrong with watching these amazing creatures move through the land. At my own house, if I don’t have attractants out, bears still sometimes visit, look around for food, and then leave when they don’t find any. It always feels special to see a bear, particularly when I know I haven’t done anything to attract it and it is, actually, just passing through.
If all this bear talk is making you nervous about visiting bear country, don’t be! Avoiding a bear sticking around in your space can be as simple as practicing a little mindfulness about how you’re handling food and garbage. I grew up in the suburbs, where things like putting your garbage at the curb once the bag was full and leaving food on a picnic table were totally normal. I get the instinct.
Now that you know the steps to take to avoid attracting bears, you can come to Vermont and experience some beautiful recreation, delicious food, and plenty of craft beer. Enjoy!