Bears - Sounds Wild
Bears and Bees

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Bears and Bees

On a sunny summer day in Southcentral Alaska, a field of fireweed is abuzz with honeybees. One fat bee, full of nectar and loaded with pollen flies slowly to the beehive - a wooden box behind an electric fence. These aren't wild bees - they are tended by a beekeeper.

There are no native bees in Alaska that gather in hives and produce honey. Alaska's native bees are more solitary in nature, but beekeepers in Alaska do import European honeybees for making honey. Occasionally, swarms of bees, including the queen, will abandon beekeeping operations if conditions become too crowded. Those swarms of bees can form a new colony in the wild and produce honey, but they can't survive Alaska's cold winter out in the elements.

Bears eat honey and are attracted to beehives. But beekeepers report that bears are often more interested in eating the bees and larvae inside the beehive, and have even been known to eat the larvae and leave the honey. Bees and larvae are a good source of protein, and both black and brown bears tear apart rotten logs and decaying stumps to get insect grubs and larvae.

Wildlife managers recommend that beekeepers use electric fences to keep bears out of their beehives. Several strand fences work better than one strand. It also helps if beekeeping operations are placed in open areas, away from the cover of forests or bear travel routes.