the western states have had a huge increase of bear vs. humans contacts this summer & there are talks of almost doubling the number of bears to be legally hunted & killed. For one, the bears habitat is being encrouched upon by humans building & living farther & farther up into bear habitat. Then in lean years the bear food supply forces them to come down from their ranges to get fruit, garden produce, garbage, etc. in human habitats. It is illegal to feed the bears or leave garbage uncovered to associate food with humans by the bears but why can't food be placed way up in bear habitat away from humans? They could be fed without associating the food with humans. Don't the elk, moose in Jackson Hole get hay dumped for them in unusually bad winters?

Just a thought!