San Jose reader asks why bears can be relocated, but not skunks

DEAR JOAN: I read your column on skunks. We have a skunk in our neighborhood, and have to put up with the spraying a couple of times a week. We contacted the City of San Jose, and got the same information you provided — importantly, the requirement that any wildlife captured must be turned loose on the same property.

So, I have a question.

South Lake Tahoe has a problem with bears that are habituated to people. They raid trash and have been filmed walking into convenience stores to raid the snacks. So, the bears are captured and relocated to a different county.

South Lake Tahoe is in Placer County. The bears are taken north to Sierra County and released. This has resulted in bears raiding the ranches and towns in Sierra County. Sierra City and Downieville residents now have bars installed over windows, porches and doors to keep the bears out. The bears have attacked ranch animals.

How is it that the law that prevents the relocation of skunks, which can carry rabies, a life-threatening disease, does not apply to bears?

Edna DeVore, San Jose

DEAR EDNA: Well, for one, a skunk isn’t likely to break into your house and eat you, but the law prohibiting the relocation of wildlife does pertain to bears. In this case, it’s the person — or entity — that is doing the relocation that most matters. This does, however, illustrate why relocation can be a problem.

The issue with us mere mortals doing trapping and relocation is that we don’t know what the full impact of moving them will have on an animal or those at the new location.

Just driving a few miles and leaving the animal can be bad. They don’t know where to find food, water and shelter, they could be dropped into another’s territory, and they could spread disease.

That’s why relocation is put in the hands of the professionals, who presumably are aware of where and how an animal can safely — for them and humans — be released. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is charged with managing the state’s wildlife and overseeing relocation. Regular folks can be granted permission from the department to relocate animals, but those permits are difficult to obtain.

Keep in mind that wildlife has a right to share the land, even if they cause problems for people. They are just trying to live their best animal life, and they neither realize nor probably care that they are causing headaches for people.

It might not be safe for them to be living in developed areas where they have to deal with risks they don’t face in the wild — such as traffic — so taking steps to discourage them from coming into yards is important, and eliminates the need, for the most part, to move them elsewhere.