Jun 14, 2007 10:42 pm US/Mountain
New Law Requires Bear-Proof Trash Cans In Vail
Prepared for cbs4denver.com by Matthew J. Buettner, Web Producer.
VAIL, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Vail is one of the first towns in the country to require bear proof garbage cans.
The police department has its own bear specialist and he said about 85 percent of the residents are complying. The businesses and condominium complexes are building enclosures around their trash cans. They have until the end of August to comply.
"They can either put in a wildlife-proof dumpster, or they can put in a wildlife resistant enclosure," Ryan Millbern with the Vail Police Department said.
Millbern said they bears have changed the days in which they are coming into town.
"In the last couple of years they would come down seven days a week," Millbern said. "Right now we are noticing 56 to 57 percent of our visits now are between Sunday and Wednesday, which coincides with our garbage days."
Bears still come to town on garbage days because they are lured by the smell, but with the new garbage cans, they usually can't access the garbage.
The last step that police take to give bears negative reinforcement is to shoot them with pepper balls. Between the two deterrents, they hope to change the bears' behavior for good.
The Vail Town Council voted on the ordinance and pushed it last fall when a mother bear was killed after breaking into a home and showed no fear of humans. Her cubs were spared and sent to a rehab center.
Police were putting notices on residents' doors as a reminder to comply, but they have stopped and now give a summons for a mandatory court appearance.
Eagle County commissioners are currently considering a similar ordinance.
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