Not an uncommon problem. I live in northwest New Jersey (USA), about 65 miles west of NYC. We have LOTS of bears. A year or two ago one broke into a neighbor's house and stole a package of english muffins, a box of water biscuits and a box of tea bags that were on the counter...obviously an Anglophile, planning a tea party. Unfortunately, its tastes were not exclusively aristocratic, because a few days later, folks from the Wildlife office were able to trap it using Dunkin Donuts as bait.

We had one napping in our barn regularly one summer. This was before locking dumpsters became mandatory. We live in a rural crossroads hamlet, between the general store/post office and the old stagecoach inn, and our barn is the former blacksmith's shop. A large male bear was having his breakfast in the the store dumpster on Taylor ham, bagels and eggs. He would then snooze during the heat of the day in the cool of our barn, and saunter forth in the evening for a supper of veal parmesan and tiramisu at the inn's dumpster. When I called the Wildlife folks to request that he be moved, I was asked if he had threatened us or our pets or done any damage. When I said, "not yet", I was told I was out of luck, because I lived in the area where they take "nuisance" bears.

And last week my dog and I cut short our hike because we saw three young bears playing in a tree ahead of us just off the trail. I could see the three cubs, but there was no sign of mama, and I didn't want to find myself between her and her precious darlings.

It always amazes me that we're plagued with bears here in New Jersey, but my in-laws who live in the Black Hills of South Dakota don't have any problems. Ah well, I think we have more coyotes than they do, and certainly more deer (overgrown rats).