MONTPELIER — Every year, hundreds of people contact the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department about bear interactions, and sometimes about conflicts that are ultimately deadly for the bear. “When a bear is fed, directly or indirectly, its life expectancy is likely reduced,” said Forrest Hammond, the Black Bear Project Leader at Vermont Fish and Wildlife. “We frequently remind people that ‘a fed bear is a dead bear.’ Bears that eat food from human yards can be struck by cars or injured or shot by someone prot … (read more)
