Daily Northern

Nordic News, Every Day

Menu

Finnish entrepreneurs dispute claims that feeding bears at photography sites leads to domestication

Tuesday 9th 2024 on 17:45 in  
Finland

Two experienced Finnish entrepreneurs maintain that feeding bears at photography hideouts is not contributing to their domestication. Over the past weekend, a bear infiltrated a dog enclosure located in the yard of a house in Suomussalmi and consumed the dog food inside. Instances of bears rummaging through trash cans have also been reported elsewhere in Eastern Finland.

According to research professor Ilpo Kojola from the Natural Resources Institute, feeding bears at feeding stations may make them more confident around humans. Eero Seppänen, the owner of Arolan farm and wilderness holidays in Suomussalmi, suggests that bears near feeding stations may become accustomed to, for example, the sound of cars. He has observed flashes of the animals in the forest when he goes to deliver food. “They are so hungry and there is fierce competition, whoever gets to eat first,” says Seppänen.

Seppänen has long been a tourism entrepreneur, and now the younger generation is continuing the business. He explains that bear behavior changes somewhat at the hideouts, but not decisively. In Kuhmo, nature photography and tourism entrepreneur Kari Kemppainen believes that bears become accustomed to their feeding places near photo hides, and to the presence of humans. Outside the feeding place, according to him, bears are shy. “If we see from the car window before the feeding place that a bear crossed the road, it will run away at full speed,” says Kemppainen.

As the bear population increases, there are also bolder individuals who come into people’s yards. “Not all animals may be so well-equipped with sense, or have a natural fear,” says Kemppainen, who is saddened by the long-standing accusations that large predators become accustomed to humans at photo hides and follow the scent into the city. According to him, bears that venture close to settlements are individual exceptions, otherwise, the bear is a shy creature.

At Arola’s farm, bears are fed with salmon scraps which are placed in concrete containers that seagulls and crows cannot freely access. Seppänen doesn’t use dog food because he believes it is more appealing to birds. He thinks it’s important that bears don’t come into contact with human scent, as bears have a good sense of smell. “If a bear gets used to dog pellets, it could go near a dog enclosure. It’s a direct correlation,” says Seppänen. Kemppainen, on the other hand, feeds bears with salmon, minced meat, and dry dog food. In the Suomussalmi case, the bear was specifically interested in the dry food in the dog’s cage.

Ale Seppänen, the operational director of the Suomussalmi Game Management Association, believes that bears are no longer as shy of humans as they used to be. One reason for this, in his opinion, is the decrease in hunting. Both Eero Seppänen and Kemppainen see hunting as playing an important role in the discussion of the bear’s domestication. “Hunting causes the tamest individuals to be removed from nature and the wildest and shyest to survive,” says Kemppainen. He does not recall a single case in Kuhmo over forty years where bears would have crowded into people’s yards.

Seppänen suggests that the possible domestication of bears would also be a disadvantage for entrepreneurs. “We don’t want the bears to become tame. If bears start to roam among people, people will no longer come to the feeding hides to watch them,” says Seppänen.