These Bears Eat as Much Junk Food as You Do. Bears, theyre just like us. And Im not referring to a subset of hairy humans, but to some furry critters in Wisconsin whose diets contain a staggering amount of junk food. Seriously Theres a reason for their sugary diet. This population of bears in Wisconsin lives by the lawhunters can feed them bait for up to six months out of the year. Bait, which includes junk food, lures the black bears in, making them easier to capture. Scientists in the area have been studying a population of bears to see just how much bait theyre actually eating, and it turns out, a lot. WHAT+DO+ALL+THE+DIET+PLANS+HAVE+IN+COMMON.jpg' alt='Bill Phillips Eating For Life Pdf Converter' title='Bill Phillips Eating For Life Pdf Converter' />BibMe Free Bibliography Citation Maker MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard. Questions and Answers from the Community. Looking for questions to answer Try browsing to a category you like, and then click the Unanswered link upper left. Hunters bait might be helping the bear populations out in an unnatural way. Why junk food, you might be asking One of the restrictions about baiting in Wisconsin is you cant use animals or animal byproductsno meat, study author Dr. Becky Kirby, who led the research while at the University of Wisconsin, Madison told Gizmodo. That means these sources are high sugar, high fat foods that people and bears both like. Cookies, donuts, cake frosting, peanut butter, its all across the board. Heres a random bear eating actual trash The team of researchers reconstructed the diets of over a hundred bears killed by hunters in Northwest Wisconsin from 2. Through a morbid combination of procedures requiring chloroform, spatulas, scissors and chemistry equipment, they analyzed specific chemical dietary markers for animal meat, natural plant life, and bait. They found that around 4. The team published their study recently in the Journal of Wildlife Management. The junk food loving bear situation comes in part from the specifics of Wisconsins hunting laws. Billing Program Amicus Attorney Support. The baiting season can last six months, which is longer than other statesbaiting season is only a few weeks in neighboring Minnesota. For bears surviving to the following year, bait might just become an integral part of the diet. Here is another bear, eating trash Is this bad Parkers team didnt really look at how the bears were doing physiologicallybut there are lots of bears in Wisconsin, and lots of bait. Obviously, this studys results are specific to Wisconsin, and are limited by the fact that it only included hunted bears. Moreover, who cares about a hairy army of junk food loving bears stumbling around the woods of northern Wisconsin Mainly, the research highlights the degree to which humans cause some wildlife populations to rely on them for food. If killing and scavenging is the bear equivalent to cooking meals, and eating bait is ordering delivery, then bears are ordering in every night of the week, and on some days theyre even ordering lunch. This is normal for some humans, but obviously not for bears, and could have important implications for the way states operate their bating seasons and manage their bear populations. Heres a third bear, also eating trash It does make you wonder, though, what the bears favorite snacks are. Wisconsin happens to have some very good cheese covered popcorn. Journal of Wildlife Management.