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Minimizing your run-ins with bears By Mark Freeman ASHLAND � From feeding the family dog on the back porch to leaving open bags of bread and potato chips on campground picnic tables, Oregonians unwittingly invite bad encounters with cougars, bears and other animals every day, wildlife experts say. If you go What: "Living with Carnivores" workshop. When: 7 p.m. Tuesday. Where: Stevenson Union, Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland. Cost: Free. But simple activities such as keeping food stowed away and putting livestock in barns at night can help ensure that run-ins with Oregon�s larger carnivores don�t have to be bad. "People can learn how to minimize their chances of encounters or conflicts with carnivores," says Barbara Todd of U.S. Fish and Wildlife. "Simple changes in the way you go about your daily routine can increase your safety and lessen the chance of a negative experience with wildlife," Todd says. Todd will come to Ashland armed with advice on animal-friendly routines Tuesday during a free workshop designed to teach Southern Oregonians how to coexist peacefully with bears and cougars. The "Living with Carnivores" two-hour workshop begins at 7 p.m. and is in the Southern Oregon University Stevenson Union. Todd and others are touring Oregon with their message designed for homeowners, resort operators and people who recreate in the woods. Historically, these groups of people have accidentally or intentionally invited run-ins with bears, cougars and other animals. "Cougars and bears are in every community and in every city in Southern Oregon, and this workshop is for people in these communities to get comfortable with this and adapt their lifestyles," says John Thiebes, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Central Point. Some resort owners in the Lower Rogue Canyon, for instance, used to feed black bears with table food so the animals could be seen by tourists. And rafters sometimes do not secure their food, thereby inviting bears into their camp. In one 1993 case in Josephine County, a woman who regularly fed neighborhood raccoons had her home broken into by a 560-pound bear in search of food. "This workshop hits on people who fit that description," Thiebes says. The Ashland workshop is the first in a series planned for several communities in Oregon. It is conducted through a partnership of state and federal wildlife agencies and some environmental and wildlife-advocacy groups such as the Klamath/Siskiyou Wildlands Center and the Hells Canyon Preservation Council. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.