08/13/2022
Long read, very important. Copied from a P***c group.
“You see that bear in the picture? We’ve become best friends, but for all the wrong reasons.
After taking that picture I stood there for at least 30 minutes, he refused to move. We had a conversation that went something like this. I said, hey Mr. Bear, you need to stop harassing cleaners and guests here at the Preserve or someone is going to come and take you away. He replied, I’m not going anywhere Ror, there’s too much yummy garbage to be had, and some of your guests even feed me leftovers. I pleaded with him, explained how he needed to go find his food in the woods like most other bears. He just looked at me and refused to budge.
It’s a really sad situation that started about a month ago. I was in my cabin one afternoon taking a short nap when I heard a ruckus outside and the sound of something being dragged across the street. I went out on my back deck and saw said bear with a fresh bag of garbage he removed from a cleaners truck parked across the street. He took it behind my cabin because it’s less steep on this side of the road. I watched as he rummaged through it, I yelled, made noise, and basically tried to scare him away. He’s so used to humans it didn’t even phase him.
Immediately I got on the phone to our property manager and explained what had happened. It’s not like we haven’t had similar conversations over the past 5 years. I asked her to please remind Management Companies to inform the cleaners to not leave trash in the back of their truck while cleaning another cabin. But like a lot of things around here it fell on deaf ears. She called the Management Company and they got someone out right away to clean up the mess, but the next day the same thing happened with the same bear.
This time more people were around, and I get it, everyone wants to see a bear when they’re here in the Smokies. I don’t blame them. But this got dangerous, I was on my back deck, it’s 30 feet in the air, so I’m pretty safe. The people staying next door (a man and his two young sons) were on their front porch (it’s only a few feet off the ground). The bear was between our cabins and maybe 15 feet from them. They were excited to see the bear, but I warned them how dangerous it was and recommended they go to their back deck. The man said it would be fine and they weren’t real concerned. Then said bear bluff charged them 3 times. They still wouldn’t go inside. I told them how fast a bear is and how quickly he could climb over the railing but to no avail. They stayed on the porch until the bear finally walked away.
The next day outside the same cabin I heard a car engine revving, horns blowing, and a few women yelling. I went outside to see the cleaners banging brooms on that same front porch and yelling at the bear. He’s become so accustomed to humans he just doesn’t care. He knows they have garbage and he wants it. It took awhile but eventually said bear went on his way.
A couple of days later a fellow owner reported on our private page the guests just a few cabins up from me were seen feeding a bear. I immediately took a walk down the street. The people weren’t there but sure enough there was my new best friend. The owner of the cabin with the guests feeding the bear later reported that she had messaged her guests and they admitted to feeding the bear. She said they apologized and said they would not do it anymore. There are signs literally throughout the resort saying, don’t approach or feed the bears. Why are Americans so selfish and always thinking rules don’t apply to them? It’s sad, who’s going to pay the price? Yeah, we all know that, the poor bear.
This gets me back to yesterday’s picture. Sure enough my new friend harassing some cleaners again. He’s at point where no loud noises, no yelling, no car revving it’s engine, or just about anything else is going to get him to leave. I already know what’s going to happen to him. He’s either getting relocated or put down, that’s what’s going to happen to him. I told him I was moving next week and won’t be around to try to keep him out of trouble. I know he doesn’t understand me, but it makes me so sad. The poor bears in the Smoky Mountains are so beautiful, so sweet for the most part, and us humans ruin it for them.
So I’m begging every cabin owner out there to please reinforce with your cleaners or management company to not leave garbage in open trucks when another cabin is being cleaned. And to all the tourists who come here on vacation, please (I can’t believe I even have to say this) do not feed the bears.”
