Hang your bird feeder high, at least twelve feet off the ground during the summer so that a bear cannot reach it. Bring it back on your deck or outside the window late in November when your neighbourhood bear is asleep and hibernating for the winter.

Citronella candles can attract a bear.

If your yard lacks any smelly food source, your local bear will spend a couple minutes sniffing around and then leave. Over time a bear doesn't bother to return to homes that lack tempting food smells. If enough residents clean up food sources, the bear will get out of town and back to its natural wild foods such as grasses, berries, roots, insects and carrion.

If a bear becomes accustomed to finding food in your yard, the bear may become habituated. Once that happens, the bear associates the smell of humans with the smell of food, and the bear can lose its fear of people. That's when bears become real problems and often end up shot by Conservation Officers.

Are bears dangerous? Bears learn what to eat from their mothers. Mother bears do not teach their cubs that humans are good to eat, so most bears do not usually see people as food. Instead, cubs quickly learn from their mothers that if they see humans, it's time to leave. Bears are not usually dangerous unless of course you surprise them at close range, or get between a mother bear and her cubs, or between a bear and its kill. Then you have a problem.

If it's a black bear, don't turn and run. Bears, like dogs, are programmed to chase animals that run away and a bear can run faster than an Olympic athlete any day of the week. Stand tall as you can and back up slowly, facing the bear. If the black bear charges, it may be a bluff and the bear will stop before it reaches you.

If a black bear attacks, which is rare, the best defense is to fight the bear and make as much noise as possible. Use stones, sticks, poles to hit the bear in the nose, eyes and mouth. Black bears can be driven off, especially if two or more people work together. Bear spray works. Always carry a cannister if you walk in the bush during spring, summer and fall.