As the season to harvest tree fruit approaches, so does the danger that bears and other wildlife are planning to get to your trees before you do. And while you may not be able to protect your trees from all possible marauders, a blast of water-- timed just right--will go a long way toward warding off thieves.

As fruit begins to ripen on the trees, the scent can alert raccoons, birds and bears to the impending treat. Wildlife can damage yards, fences, surrounding property and the trees themselves in an attempt to get food.

“Bears have an extremely acute sense of smell,” said Jacques Drisdelle, provincial program coordinator for the BC Conservation Foundation’s Bear Aware program. “A bear that can find apples in the fall learns quickly where and when to find the food again and will return to the same location from one year to the next.”

Marg Evans knows first-hand the damage bears and other wildlife can do to trees, yards, and gardens year after year.

“We had bears raid our apple trees for more than 10 years before we installed the ScareCrows,” said Evans, a former resident of Port Alberni, BC. “They pulled the trees over, broke sections of our cedar fence, and ate the grapes from our arbour.” Evans said that the damage stopped entirely when she started using Contech’s motion-activated sprinklers.

Each year in the August, bears enter a state called hyperphagia—indicated by an increased appetite and food consumption--in preparation for hibernation. Driven by this biological need to build up their fat supplies, bears will seek out food wherever they can, including urban backyards.

“We receive hundreds of calls at this time of year regarding bears in fruit trees,” Drisdelle said. “Allowing bears to access any form of food, including fruit from trees, is bad for the bears. They quickly learn to associate fruit to humans and then lose their natural fear of people.” He added that most bears that become conditioned to human food are eventually killed to protect humans and their surroundings.

According to the Bear Aware program, if bears are never rewarded with the taste of fruit and human food, they would continue to direct their foraging to natural settings, away from human habitation.

To prevent bears and wildlife from satisfying their appetites in urban environments, Drisdelle suggests picking fruit before it falls to the ground, keeping garbage in bear-proof receptacles and using deterrents.

Fruit flies can be an additional, unpleasant bi-product of backyard fruit. If, after harvesting tree fruit, you have a kitchen or pantry full of fruit (and flies), the Contech fruit fly trap is an effective, environmentally-friendly alternative to harmful chemicals and pesticides.

View a ScareCrow versus bear video.

Contech is a designer and provider of animal control and wellness products and non-toxic pest management products for home and garden, forestry, landscape, agriculture, and commercial applications. Safe and effective solutions such as the ScareCrow® motionactivated sprinkler and continue to reinforce the company’s reputation as a leading innovator in the pet and garden industries.