New York State police want residents in the Town of Monroe to secure their trash cans, get rid of bird seed, and take other precautions to be sure they’re not attracting bears.

Police say they’ve had to chase bears out of residential neighborhoods across Monroe several times last week. Friday was the latest sighting, close to Round Lake.

The bears have been rummaging through garbage pails, but have not posed a threat to residents, police said.

Environmental experts say you can prevent attracting bears by not leaving garbage outside before collection day, cleaning trash cans regularly with ammonia or Lysol, reminding children not to leave food or food wrappers outside, cleaning your outdoor grills, and by not putting out bird seed.

(Source Times Herald Record)