Police received at least eight calls over the weekend about a very large bear going through trash cans in the Indian River neighborhood.
It’s estimated to be about 8 feet tall and like many bears, is really into garbage. Fish and animal waste, cooking oils, and even baby diapers are attractive to bears, and experts say once they learn it’s in your trash, they’ll keep coming back.
And Sitka police Lieutenant Barry Allen says even chaining your trash can shut doesn’t always work.
“We’ve had more than one instance where the bears are flattening out the trash cans and just pulling stuff through the cracks in the lids,” he said. “We’ve had at least one occasion where we’ve had bears chew through one of the big trash containers.”
The solution? Allen says you should freeze any food and animal parts, put diapers in a separate container, and make a trip to the transfer station on Jarvis Street. Everyone is allowed to dump up to 200 pounds of waste per month for free.
If you can’t make it to the transfer station, he says the next best thing is to wait and put smelly waste in the trash can the morning of garbage day.
