State Street Realty Group, Inc - Serving IDAHO

09/18/2026

🐻 CENTERVILLE BEAR UPDATE 🐻

We wanted to provide an update regarding the recent bear activity in the Centerville area.

Idaho Fish and Game has been able to remove some of the problem bears from the area. Unfortunately, due to the bears’ behavior and their increasing lack of fear toward people, they had to be euthanized.

This is an unfortunate outcome, but it also highlights why preventing bears from becoming habituated to people and human food is so important.

Now for the prevention portion of our message and this is where everyone can help.

🗑️ SECURE YOUR TRASH

You can do everything right at your house, but unfortunately, bears don’t understand property lines.

If one neighbor routinely leaves trash, pet food, livestock feed, or other tasty bear snacks accessible, a bear can quickly learn:

Houses = Food.

Once that happens, the bear doesn’t limit its search to the house with the unsecured garbage. It starts checking the neighborhood.

So even if your trash is secured, your neighbor’s midnight bear buffet can help create a problem bear that eventually shows up on your porch looking for dessert.

🐻 PLEASE DO NOT HAND-FEED THE BEARS

We really didn’t think this needed to be said.

Then again, Yellowstone National Park has spent years reminding people not to pet the bison, so here we are.

Do not intentionally feed a bear. Do not attempt to hand-feed a bear.

We have received information that someone may have been hand-feeding bears in the area. While we cannot independently confirm exactly what occurred, the recent behavior we’ve seen is concerning. These bears had become unusually comfortable around people and were reportedly actively approaching, following, and even chasing people.

A bear that learns people = food is not a friendly bear.

It is a wild animal that has learned a very dangerous lesson.

And unfortunately, it’s often the bear that ultimately pays the price for that lesson.

🏠 A FEW SIMPLE THINGS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE:

• Keep garbage secured where bears cannot access it.
• Don’t leave pet food outside overnight.
• Secure livestock and animal feed.
• Clean grills and other outdoor cooking areas.
• Pick up fallen fruit and other food sources around your property.
• Keep pets under control, particularly when bears are active nearby.
• Never intentionally feed or approach a bear.
• And yes, hand-feeding is definitely still feeding.

🗺️ AND FINALLY… WHERE EXACTLY IS “BEAR COUNTRY” IN BOISE COUNTY?

We have prepared a highly sophisticated map to help answer that question.

If you look closely, you’ll notice the area identified as BEAR COUNTRY includes:

Centerville.

Idaho City.

Horseshoe Bend.

Garden Valley.

Lowman.

Placerville.

Crouch.

The mountains.

The valleys.

The trees.

The places without trees.

Your neighborhood.

Your driveway.

And that suspicious noise next to your garbage cans at 2:00 a.m.

In other words:

Every. Single. Inch. Of. Boise. County.

🐻 Boise County is bear country.

We can all do our part to keep bears wild, keep people safe, and hopefully keep the next bear from learning that humans are basically walking vending machines.

Secure the attractants. Give bears space. Don’t feed them.

And please…

Don’t make us add “DO NOT HAND-FEED THE BEARS” to the same category of public-service announcements as “DO NOT PET THE BISON.”

09/01/2026

08/30/2026