08/04/2026
It's blue. It's p**p. And it's actually great news! We all know bears eat berries, but you're probably still scratching your head about why we're excited about this pile of s**t? The blue hue and undigested bits are clear indicators that this bear was doing exactly what we hope Vermont's black bears are doing this time of year: feasting on berries.
As wild blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries ripen, black bears will seek out these tasty and high sugar foods. If a bear finds a bumper crop of berries, it will happily stick around until there's nary a berry left.
In just a few short weeks, black bears will begin trying to eat as much as they possibly can—we're talking nearly 24 hours a day!—to build up their energy stores for winter. Like the bear who's s**t we see here, we hope they'll be filling up on natural foods like berries, beechnuts, acorns and other wild fall foods and not birdseed, garbage, or compost. By securing these attractants, we're keeping Vermont's bears healthy, wild, and focused on the foods they can find in nature.
