Good fences make good neighbors, as Robert Frost famously wrote, but when it comes to bears and backyard farms those fences better be electrified.
That’s part of the message that state and federal officials will be giving in Concord this month during a free seminar about ways small backyard farms, often run by people with little experience dealing with wildlife, can reduce what are officially known as “adverse bear interactions.”
The program will be offered at 5:30 p.m. on May 30 at Osborne’s Agway, 258 Sheep Davis Road in Concord. Registration is not required.
Nancy Comeau and Justin Sutherland from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services’ N.H. Bear Program will demonstrate how to set up electric fencing to keep bears from small and large livestock pens. Hobby farmers who keep chickens, bees, goats, sheep and other livestock are encouraged to attend.
For more information on reducing bear-human encounters, visit wildnh.com/wildlife/somethings-bruin.html.
For information on bear-related issues, call a toll-free number coordinated jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services and the N.H. Fish and Game Department at 1-888-749-2327 (1-888-SHY-BEAR).
