Fish & Wildlife fields the question constantly. Its answer comes down to geography, biology, and thousands of bears already on the landscape.

by Compass Vermont

“Why can’t you just relocate the bear?” is one of the most common suggestions the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department hears when a bear gets into trash, birdfeeders, or livestock.

In a post to its Facebook page this week, the department explained why it rarely does — and why it says moving a habituated bear tends to create more problems than it solves.

The context: Vermont’s black bear population is estimated at 6,800 to 8,000 animals based on 2024 data, the most recent available — a fourth consecutive year above the state’s management goal of 3,500 to 5,500. A well-occupied landscape, the department notes, leaves little unclaimed territory to drop a bear into.

The department’s explanation, in its own words:

In theory, moving a bear away from the conflict site and putting it in the wilderness would solve the problem. But relocating bears doesn’t stop conflicts and isn’t good for people or bears. Here’s why:

There is nowhere in Vermont remote enough to move a habituated bear without creating problems for someone else. It’s nice to imagine we could drop a bear in isolated woods and it would learn to search for natural foods again, but once a bear is used to looking for human food, it will keep using that knowledge unless taught otherwise. It’s better for the bears if we humans double down on bear-proofing before a bear ever becomes a problem. That gives bears the chance to un-learn the association between people and food and stay in their home range.

Speaking of home range, there’s also nowhere in Vermont we can move a habituated bear without potentially putting it in conflict with other bears. We have over 7,000 bears on the landscape, which means our landscape is well-occupied by resident bears. Moving bears is unneighborly to other bears.

In cases where they are moved, relocated bears have been shown to travel hundreds of miles and end up right back in the town where they were first captured. So relocating a bear won’t solve the original problem for very long. It will, however, force that bear to make a dangerous journey across highways and other bears’ territories — and create new problems for people all along the route back home.

We understand the suggestion comes from a well-meaning place. But for the bears’ sakes and our neighbors’ sakes, relocation is not a good option.

The department’s bottom line: everyone who lives in Vermont shares responsibility for preventing conflicts with black bears, because — the Islands aside — the whole state is bear country.

Source: Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. Read the original post on the department’s Facebook page.